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MORAL PHILOSOPHY; 



THE DUTIES OF MAN 

CONSIDERED IN HIS 

INDIVIDUAL, SOCIAL, AND DOMESTIC 
CAPACITIES. 



GEORGE COMBE. 



PROM THE REVISED AND ENLARGED EDINBURGH EDITION. 






NEW YORK : 
WILLIAM H. COLYER. 

NO. 5 HAGUE-STREET. 

1 842. 






\* 



*V 



PREFACE 



The present work appears in the form of lectures, which 
were composed under the following circumstances : 

In 1832, an association was formed by the industrious 
classes of Edinburgh, for obtaining instruction in useful and 
entertaining knowledge, by means of lectures, to be delivered 
in the evenings after business-hours. These lectures were 
designed to be popular in regard to style and illustration, but 
systematic in arrangement and extent. I was requested to 
deliver a course on Moral Philosophy, commencing in No- 
vember, 1835,' and proceeding on each Monday evening, till 
April, 1836. Another evening in each week was devoted to 
Astronomy ; and two nights more to Chemistry. Thus, there 
were delivered twenty consecutive lectures on Moral Philo- 
sophy, on the Monday evenings ; fifty lectures on Chemistry, 
on the evenings of Tuesdays and Fridays ; and twenty -five 
lectures on Astronomy, on the Thursday evenings. The 
audience amounted to between five and six hundred persons 
of both sexes. 

In twenty lectures, addressed to such an audience, only a 
small portion of a very extensive field of science could be 
touched upon. It was necessary also to avoid, as much as 
possible, abstract and speculative questions, and to dwell chief- 
ly on topics simple, interesting, and practically useful. These 
circumstances account for the introduction of such subjects as 
Suretyship, Arbitration, Guardianship, and some others, not 
usually treated of in works on Moral Philosophy ; and also 
for the occasional omission of that rigid application of the 
principles on which the work is founded, to the case of every 
duty, which would have been necessary in a purely scientific 
treatise. These principles, however, although not always 
stated, are never intentionally departed from. 

A large number of my auditors had studied phrenology, and 
many of them had read my work on " The Constitution of 
Man :" I did not hesitate, therefore, to found the lectures on 
phrenological principles. As, however, they were not, in 
general, regular students of philosophy, but persons engaged 
in practical business, their recollection of the principles could 
not be entirely relied on, and it became necessary to restate 
these at considerable length. This is the cause of a more 
extensive repetition, in these lectures, of views already pub- 
lished in " The Constitution of Man," and in my phrenological 
writings, than, in ordinary circumstances, would have been 
admissible. 

The lectures were reported, by one of my hearers, in the 
Edinburgh Chronicle newspaper, and excited some attention. 
Still, however, I did not consider them worthy of being pre- 
sented to the public as a separate work, and they have not 



IT PREFACE. 

hitherto appeared in this form in Britain. I transmitted a 
copy of the " Reports " to a friend in Boston, U. S., when they 
were reprinted by Messrs. Marsh, Capen, and Lyon, in a small 
duodecimo volume. The entire edition was purchased by the 
American public ; and, encouraged by this indication of ap- 
proval, I sent, during my residence in America, for the original 
manuscript, (which 1 had left in Edinburgh,) and last spring pub- 
lished at Boston the entire lectures, with such additions and 
improvements as they appeared to stand in need of. Since my 
return to Scotland, 1 have subjected the volume to another revi- 
sion, and now offer an improved edition to the British public. 

I am aware that, in founding moral philosophy on phreno- 
logy, I shall appear to those persons who have not ascertained 
the truth of the latter science, to be putting forward mere 
conjectures as the basis of human duty. 

In answer to this objection, I respectfully remark, that 
scientific truths exist independently of human observation and 
opinion. The globe revolved on its axis, and carried the pope 
and seven cardinals whirling round on its surface, at the very 
moment when he and they declared the assertion of such a 
fact to be a damnable heresy, subversive of Christianity. In 
like manner, the brain performs its functions equally in those 
who deny, and in those who admit, their existence. I observe 
that in one anti-phrenologist, in whom the anterior lobe is 
small, the intellect is feeble ; and that in another, in whom it 
is large and well constituted, the intellect is powerful, alto- 
gether independently of their own belief in these facts. I have 
remarked, also, that when the brain of an anti-phrenologist has 
been diseased in a particular organ, he has become deranged 
in the corresponding faculty, notwithstanding his denial of all 
connexion between them. The fact, therefore, that many 
persons do not admit the truth of phrenology, does not neces- 
sarily render it an imaginary science. The denial by Harvey's 
contemporaries of the circulation of the blood, did not arrest 
the action of the heart, arteries, and veins. 

In phrenology, as in general physiology and other sciences, 
there are points still unascertained, and these may hereafter 
prove to be important ; but the future discovery of the func- 
tions of the spleen will never overturn the ascertained func- 
tions of the lungs or spinal marrow : and, in like manner, the 
ascertainment of the uses of certain unknown parts at the base 
of the brain, will not alter the ascertained functions of the 
anterior lobe and coronal region. I consider the phrenological 
principles on which I have founded the following lectures, to 
be established by such an extensive induction of facts, that, 
they will sustain the severest scrutiny and not be found want 
ing; and I shall, with becoming resignation, abide by the 
verdict of those, who, by study and observation, shall have 
rendered themselves competent to judge of their merits. 

Edinburgh, 1st October^ 1840. 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE I. 

»N THE FOUNDATION OF MORAL SCIENCE. 

Questions distinct, What actions are virtuous ? and what con- 
stitutes them such? — Answer to the former comparatively- 
easy — Human constitution indicates certain courses of action 
to be right — Necessity for studying that constitution and 
its relations, in order to ascertain what renders an action 
virtuous or vicious— Conflicting opinions of philosophers on 
the moral constitution of man — Phrenology assumed as a 
valuable guide — Possibility of the existence of Moral Philo- 
sophy as a natural science — No faculty essentially evil, 
though liable to be abused — Deductions of well-constituted 
and well-informed minds to be relied on in moral science — 
Scripture not intended as an all-sufficient guide of conduct 
— Faculties revealed by phrenology, and illustrations of their 
uses and abuses — Adaptation of human constitution to ex- 
ternal nature — The objects of Moral Philosophy are, to trace 
the nature and legitimate sphere of action of our faculties 
and their external relations, with the conviction, that to use 
them properly is virtue, to abuse them, vice — Cause of its 
barren condition as a science — Bishop Butler's view of the 
supremacy of conscience acceded to — Those actions virtu- 
ous which accord with the dictates of the moral sentiments 
and intellect — Preceding theories imperfect, though partially- 
correct — Cause of this imperfection ; qualities of actions are 
discovered by the intellect, and the moral sentiments then 
decide whether they are right or wrong — Plan of the pre- 
sent course of lectures. Page 25-45 

LECTURE II. 

ON THE SANCTIONS BY WHICH THE NATURAL LAWS OF 
MORALITY ARE SUPPORTED. 

Every law supposes a Lawgiver, and punishment annexed to 
transgression — God prescribes certain actions by our consti- 
tution, and He is therefore the Lawgiver — He supports his 
laws by rewards and punishments — Does He do so by special 
acts of providence ? — Or are his rewards and punishments 
certain consequences of good or evil, appointed by Him to 
follow from our actions ? — It is important to show that God 
dispenses justice in this world ; because we know no other, 
and if He be not just here, there is no natural and logical 
ground for inferring that He will be just in any ether world 
— Evidence that He does dispense justice here — His sup- 
posed injustice is apparent only — Philosophers have not 
understood the principles of His government --The indepen- 
I* 



VI CONTENTS. 

dent action of the several natural laws is the key to it — If 
we obey the physical laws, they reward us with physical 
advantages — If we obey the organic laws, they reward us 
with health — If we obey the moral laws, they reward us with 
mental joy — If we disobey any one of these laws, we are 
punished under it, although we observe all die others — There 
is more order and justice in the Divine Government in this 
world than is generally recognised. 45-65 

LECTURE III. 

ADTANTAGES OF A KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF MO- 
RALS : DUTIES PRESCRIBED TO MANAS AN INDIVIDUAL I 
SELF CULTURE. 

The views in the preceding lecture accord with those of Bishop 
Butler — We go farther than he did, and show the natural 
arrangements by which the consequences mentioned by him 
take place — Importance of doing this — Certain relations 
have been established between the natural laws, which give 
to each a tendency to support the authority of the whole- — 
Examples — Duties prescribed to Man as an Individual con- 
sidered — The object of man's existence on earth is to ad- 
vance in knowledge, wisdom, and holiness, and thereby to 
enjoy his being — The glory of God is promoted by his accom- 
plishing this object — The first duty of Man is to acquire 
knowledge — This may be drawn from Scripture and from 
nature — -Results from studying heathen mythology and na- 
ture are practically different — Difference between the old 
and the new philosophy stated— Clerical opposition to these 
lectures. 66-83 

LECTURE IV. 

PRESERVING BODILY AND MENTAL HEALTH, A MORAL DUTY ; 
AMUSEMENTS. 

The preservation of health is a moral duty — Causes of bad 
health are to be found in infringement of the organic laws — 
All the bodily organs must be preserved in proportionate 
vigour — The pleasures attending high health are refined and 
quite distinct from sensual pleasures — The habits of the 
lower animals are instructive to man in regard to health- 
Labour is indispensable to health — Fatal consequences of 
continued, although slight, infractions of the organic laws — 
Amusements necessary to health, and therefore not sinful — 
We have received faculties of Time, Tune, Ideality, Imita- 
tion, and Wit, calculated to invent and practise amusements 

Their uses and abuses stated — Error of religious persons 

who condemn instead of purifying and improving public 
.amusements * 83-101 



CONTENTS. fi 

LECTURE V. 

ON THE DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

Origin of the domestic affections — Marriage, or connexion for 
life between the sexes, is natural to man — Ages at which 
marriage is proper — Near relations in blood should not marry 
— Influence of the constitution of the parents on the children 
— Phrenology, as an index to natural dispositions, may be 
used as an important guide in forming matrimonial connex- 
ions — Some means of discovering natural qualities prior to 
experience, is needed in forming such alliances, because 
after marriage experience comes too late. 101-118 

LECTURE VI. 

ON POLYGAMY I FIDELITY TO THE MARRIAGE VOW \ DIVORCE ! 
DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

Polygamy not founded in Nature — Fidelity to the marriage 
row a natural institution — Divorce — Objections to the law 
of England on this subject — Circumstances in which divorce 
should be allowed — Duties of parents — Mr. Malthus's law 
of population, and Mr. Sadler's objections to it, considered 
— Parents bound to provide for their children, and to preserve 
their health— Consequences of neglecting the laws of 
health. 118-136 

LECTURE VII. 

ft is the duty of parents to educate their children — To be able 
to discharge this duty, parents themselves must be educated 
— Deficiency of education in Scotland — Means of supplying 
the deficiency — It is a duty to provide for children— Best 
provision for children consists in a sound constitution, good 
moral and intellectual training, and instruction in useful 
knowledge — What distribution of the parent's fortune should 
be made '? — Rights of parents and duties of children — Obedi- 
ence to parents — Parents bound to render themselves worthy 
of respect — Some children born with defective moral and in- 
tellectual organs — How they should be treated. 137-154 

LECTURE VIII. 

Theories of philosophers respecting the origin of society — So- 
lution afforded by Phrenology — Man has received faculties, 
the spontaneous action of which prompts him to live in socie- 
ty — Industry is man's first social duty — Labour, in modera- 
tion, is a source of enjoyment, and not a punishment — The 
opinion that useful labour is degrading examined — The 
division of labour is natural, and springs from the faculties 
being bestowed in different degrees of strength on different 
individuals — One combination fits for one pursuit, and ano 
ther for another— Gradations of rank are also natural, and 



▼HI CONTEXTS. 

arise from differences in native talents and in acquired skill 
— Gradations of rank are beneficial to all, 154-167 

LECTURE IX. 

ON THE PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTIVE CONDITIONS OF 
SOCIETY. 

The question considered, Why are vicious or weak persons 
sometimes found prosperous, while the virtuous and talented 
enjoy no worldly distinction ? — Individuals honoured and 
rewarded according as they display qualities adapted to the 
state of the society in which they live — Mankind hitherto 
animated chiefly by selfish faculties — Prospective improve- 
ment of the moral aspect of society — Retrospect of its 
previous conditions — Savage, pastoral, agricultural, and 
commercial stages ; and qualities requisite for the prosperity 
of individuals in each — Dissatisfaction of moral and intel- 
lectual minds with the present state of society — Increasing 
tendency of society to honour and reward virtue and intel- 
ligence — Artificial impediments to this — Hereditary titles 
and entails — Their bad effects— Pride of ancestry, rational 
and irrational — Aristocratic feeling in America and Europe 
— Means through which the future improvement of society 
may be expected — Two views of the proper objects of 
human pursuit ; one representing man's enjoyments as 
principally animal, and the other as chiefly moral and 
intellectual— The selfish faculties at present paramount in 
society — Consequences of this — Keen competition of indi- 
vidual interests, and its advantages and disadvantages — 
Present State of Britain unsatisfactory. 167-185 

LECTURE X. 

THE CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE 
CONDITION OF SOCIETY CONTINUED. 

Additional examples of bad results of competition of individual 
interests — Disadvantages attending the division of labour — 
Difficulty of benefiting one individual without injuring others 
— Instance of charitable institutions — Question, Whether 
the destruction of human life or of corn is the greater public 
calamity — State of the Irish peasantry — Impediments to 
the abandonment of luxuries by the rich — The leading ar- 
rangements of society at present bear reference to self- 
interest — Christianity cannot become practical while this 
continues to be the case — Does human nature admit of such 
improvement, that the evils of individual competition may 
be obviated, and the moral sentiments rendered supreme ? 
— Grounds for hope — Natural longing for a more perfect 
social condition — Schemes of Plato, SirT. More, the Primi- 
tive Christians, the Harmonites, and Mr. Owen. 186-198 



CONTENTS. IX 

LECTURE XL 

THE CONSIDERATION OF THE PROSPECTIVE CONDITION OF 
SOCIETY CONTINUED. — DUTY OF MAINTAINING THE POOR. 

Reasons for expecting future human improvement — The brain 
improves with time, exercise, and the melioration of insti- 
tutions — Existing superior brains and minds prove the capa- 
bility of the race — The best men are the firmest believers 
in man's capability of improvement — Human happiness will 
increase with the progress of knowledge — Ignorance still 
prevalent — Many of our sufferings traceable to causes 
removable by knowledge and the practice of morality — 
This exemplified in poverty, and the vicissitude and uncer- 
tainty of conditions — Means by which human improvement 
may be effected — The interest of individuals closely linked 
with general improvement and prosperity — Examples in 
proof of this — Extensive view of the Christian precept, that 
we ought to love our neighbour as ourselves — Duty of attend- 
ing to public affairs — Prevention of war — Abolition of slave- 
trade — Imperfection of political economy in its tendency to 
promote general happiness — Proposal to set apart stated 
portions of time for the instruction of the people in their 
social duties, and for the discharge of them — Anticipated 
good effects of such a measure — Duty of endeavouring to 
. equalise happiness — Duty of maintaining the poor — Opposite 
views of political economists on this subject considered — ■ 
Causes of pauperism ; and means of removing them — These 
causes not struck at by the present system of management 
of the poor ; but, on the contrary, strengthened. 199-219 

LECTURE XII. 

PAUPERISM AND CRIME. 

Causes of pauperism continued — Indulgence in intoxicating 
liquors — Causes producing love of these ; — Hereditary pre- 
disposition ; Excessive labour with low diet ; Ignorance — 
Effects of commercial convulsions in creating pauperism — 
Duty of supporting the poor — Evils resulting to society from 
neglect of this duty — Removal of the causes of pauperism 
should be aimed at — Legal assessments for the support of 
the poor advocated — Opposition to new opinions is no 
reason for despondency, provided they are sound— Treat- 
ment of criminals — Existing treatment and its failure to 
suppress crime — Light thrown by Phrenology on this subject 
— Three classes of combinations of the mental organs, 
favourable, unfavourable, and middling — Irresistible procli- 
vity of some men to crime— Proposed treatment of this 
class of criminals— Objection as to moral responsibility 
answered. 220-235 



X CONTENTS. 

LECTURE XIII. 

TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS CONTINUED. 

Criminals in whom the moral and intellectual organs are con- 
siderably developed — Influence of external circumstances 
on this class — Doctrine of regeneration — Importance of 
attending to the functions of the brain in reference to this 
subject, and the treatment of criminals — Power of society 
over the conduct of men possessing brains of the middle class 
— Case of a criminal made so by circumstances — Expedien- 
cy of keeping certain men from temptation — Thefts by post- 
office officials — Aid furnished by Phrenology in selecting 
persons to fill confidential situations — Punishment of crimi- 
nals — Objects of punishment — Its legitimate ends are to 
protect society by example, and to reform the offenders — 
Means of effecting these purposes — Confinement — Employ- 
ment — Unsatisfactory state of our existing prisons — Moral 
improvement of criminals. 236-251 

LECTURE XIV. 

DUTY OP SOCIETY IN REGARD TO THE TREATMENT OF 
CRIMINALS. 

The punishment of criminals proceeds too much on the prin- 
ciple of revenge — Consequences of this error — The proper 
objects are the protection of society, and the reformation of 
the criminal — Means of accomplishing these ends — Confine- 
ment in a penitentiary till the offender is rendered capable 
of good conduct — Experience of the corrupting effects of 
short periods of imprisonment in Glasgow bridewell — 
Proposed conditions of liberation — Failure of the treadmill 
— American penitentaries — Wherein imperfect — Punish- 
ment of death may ultimately be abolished — Harmony of the 
proposed system of criminal legislation with Christianity — 
Execution of criminals — Transportation — Farther particu- 
lars respecting American prisons — Cerebral and mental 
qualities of criminals there confined-- Some of them incor- 
rigible — Objection as to destruction of human responsibility 
answered — Class of criminals susceptible of reformation — 
Means of effecting this — Results of solitary confinement 
considered— Silent labour system at Auburn. 252-270 

LECTURE XV. 

DUTIES OF GUARDIANS, SURETIES, JURORS, AND ARBITRATORS 

Guardianship — A duty not to be declined, though its perform- 
ance is sometimes repaid with ingratitude— The misconduct 
is often on the part of the guardians — Examples of both 
cases — Particular circumstances in which guardianship may 
be declined — Duties of guardians — They should study, and 
sedulously perform, the obligations incumbent on them 



CONTENTS. li 

Property of wards not to be misapplied to guardians' own 
purposes — Co-guardians to be vigilantly watched, and check- 
ed when acting improperly — Care for the maintenance, 
education, and setting out in life, of the wards — Duty of 
suretyship — Dangers incurred by its performance — These 
may be lessened by Phrenology — Selfishness of those who 
decline to become sureties in any case whatever — Precau- 
tions under which suretyship should be undertaken — No 
man ought to bind himself that he may severely suffer, or to 
become surety for a sanguine and prosperous individual who 
merely wishes to increase his prosperity — Suretyship for 
good conduct — Precautions applicable to this — Duties of 
jurors — Few men capable of their satisfactory performance 
— Suggestions for the improvement of juries — Duties of 
arbitrators — Erroneous notions prevalent on this subject — 
Decisions of "honest men judging according to equity" — 
Principles of law ought not to be disregarded. 271-288 

LECTURE XVI. 

GOVERNMENT. 

Various theories of the origin of government — Theory derived 
from Phrenology — Circumstances which modify the charac- 
ter of a government — Government is the just exercise of the 
power and authority of a nation, delegated to one or a few 
for the general good — General consent of the people its only 
moral foundation — Absurdity of doctrine of the Divine right 
of governors — Individuals not entitled to resist the govern- 
ment whenever its acts are disapproved by them — Rational 
mode of reforming a government — Political improvement 
slow and gradual — Advantages thence resulting — Indepen- 
dence and liberty of a nation distinguished — French govern- 
ment before and after the revolution — British government 
—Relations of different kinds of government to the human 
faculties — Conditions necessary for national independence . 

, (1.) Adequate size of brain ; (2.) Intelligence and love of 
country sufficient to enable the people to act in concert, 
and sacrifice private to public advantage — National liberty 
— High moral and intellectual qualities necessary for its 
attainment — Illustrations of the foregoing principles from 
history- -Republics of North and South America contrasted 
— The Swiss and Dutch — Failure of the attempt to intro- 
duce a free constitution into Sicily. 288-303 

LECTURE XVII. 

DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

Despotism ; the best form of government in a rude state of 
society — Mixed form of government — Interests of the many 
sacrificed under despotic and oligarchical governments, to 
those of the few — Bad effects of hereditary artificial rank in 
its existing shape — Rational pride of ancestry, and true 



Xli CONTENTS. 

nobility of nature— Arguments in favour of hereditary rank 
considered: (1.) That it presents objects of respect to the 
people, and accustoms them to deference and obedience ; 
(2.) That it establishes a refined and polished class, who, 
by their example, improve the multitude ; (3.) That there 
is a natural and universal admiration of it, proving it to be 
beneficial — Bad effects of entails, and of exclusive privi- 
leges and distinctions enjoyed by individuals or classes — 
Forcible abolition of hereditary nobility, entails, and mono- 
polies reprobated — Political aspect of the United States — 
Tendency of the mixed form cf government to unfairly 
promote the interests of the dominant class — This exem- 
plified in the laws of Britain, particularly those relating to 
the militia and the impressment of seamen — Democratic 
form of government — Adapted only to a state of society in 
which morality and intelligence have made great and general 
advancement — Greek and Roman republics no exception — 
Character of these republics — Small Italian republics of the 
middle ages — Swiss republics, particularly that of Bern — 
Democracy in the United States— No probability that the 
present civilized countries of Europe will ever become 
barbarous — Or that the United States will fall asunder or 
lose their freedom — Tendency of governments to become 
more democratic, in proportion as the people become more 
intelligent and moral— Groundless fears that ignorant mass- 
es of the people will gain the ascendency. 303-325 
LECTURE XVIII. 

RELIGIOUS DUTIES OF MAN. 

Consideration of man's duties to God, so far as discoverable 
by the light of nature — Natural theology a branch of natural 
philosophy — Not superseded by revelation — Brown, Stew- 
art, and Chalmers quoted — Natural theology a guide to the 
sound interpretation of scripture — Foundation of natural 
religion in the faculties of man — Distinction between morals 
and religion — The Bible does not create the religious feel- 
ings, but is fitted only to enlighten, enliven, and direct them 
— Illustration of this view— Stability of religion, even amid the 
downfall of churches and creeds — Moral and religious duties 
prescribed to man by natural theology — Prevalent erroneous 
views of divine worship-Natural evidence of God's existence 
and attributes— Man's ignorance the cause of the past bar- 
renness and obscurity of natural religion— Importance of the 
Book of Creation as a revelation of the Divine Will. 326-344 

LECTURE XIX. 

RELIGIOUS DUTIES OF MAN. 344-354 

LECTURE XX. 
objections answered, 354-364 

Appendix. 365-372 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



LECTURE I. 

ON THE FOUNDATION OF MORAL SCIENCE. 

Questions distinct, What actions are virtuous ? and what con- 
stitutes them such ? — Answer to the farmer comparatively 
easy — Human constitution indicates certain courses of action 
to be right— Necessity for studying that constitution and 
its relations, in order to ascertain what renders an action 
virtuous or vicious— Conflicting opinions of philosophers on 
the moral constitution of man — Phrenology assumed as a 
valuable guide — Possibility of the existence of Moral Philo- 
sophy as a natural science — No faculty essentially evil, 
though liable to be abused — Deductions of well-constituted 
and well-informed minds to be relied on in moral science — 
Scripture not intended as an all-sufficient guide of conduct 
— Faculties revealed by Phrenology, and illustrations of their 
uses and abuses — Adaptation of human constitution to ex • 
ternal nature — The objects of Moral Philosophy are, to trace 
the nature and legitimate sphere of action of our faculties 
and their external relations, with the conviction, that to use 
them properly is virtue, to abuse them, vice — Cause of its 
barren condition as a science — Bishop Butler's view of the 
supremacy of conscience acceded to — Those actions virtu- 
ous which accord with the dictates of the moral sentiments 
and intellect — Preceding theories imperfect, though partially 
correct — Cause of this imperfection ; qualities of actions are 
discovered by the intellect, and the moral sentiments then 
decide whether they are right or wrong — Plan of the pre- 
sent course of lectures. 

In an introductory discourse on Moral Philosophy, the 
lecturer unfortunately has few attractions to offer. His 
proper duty is, not to descant in glowing terms on the dig- 
nity of moral investigations, and on the extreme importance 
of sound ethical conclusions both to public and to private 
happiness ; but to give an account of the state in which his 
science at present exists, and of what he means to teach in 
his subsequent prelections. No subject can be conceived 
more destitute of direct attraction. I must beg your indul- 
gence, therefore, for the dryness of the details and the 
abstractness of the argument in this lecture. I make these 
3 



26 THE FOUNDATION OP 

observations that you may not feel discouraged by an 
appearance of difficulty in the commencement. I shall use 
every effort to render the subject intelligible, and I promise 
you that the subsequent discourses shall be more practical 
and less abstruse than the present. 

Our first inquiry is into the basis of morals regarded as 
a science ; that is, into the natural foundations of moral 
obligation. 

There are two questions — very similar in terms, but 
widely different in substance — which we must carefully 
distinguish. The one is, What actions are virtuous ] and 
the other, What constitutes them virtuous 1 The answer 
to the first question, fortunately, is not difficult. Most in- 
dividuals agree that it is virtuous to love our neighbour, to 
reward a benefactor, to discharge our proper obligations, to 
love God, and so forth ; and that the opposite actions are 
vicious. But when the second question is put — Why is an 
action virtuous — why is it virtuous to love our neighbour, 
or to manifest gratitude or piety 7 ? the most contradictory 
answers are given by philosophers. The discovery of what 
constitutes virtue is a fundamental point in moral philosophy ; 
and hence the difficulties of the subject meet us at the very 
threshold of our inquiries. 

It appears to me, that man nas received a definite bodily 
and mental constitution, which clearly points to certain 
objects as excellent, to others as proper, and to others as 
beneficial to him ; and that endeavours to attain these ob- 
jects are prescribed to him as duties by the law written in 
his constitution ; while, on the other hand, whatever tends 
to defeat their attainment is forbidden. The web-foot of 
the duck, for instance, clearly bespeaks the Creator's inten- 
tion that this creature should swim ; and He has given it 
an internal impulse which prompts it to act accordingly. 
The human constitution indicates various courses of action 
to be designed for man, as clearly as the web-foot indicates 
the water to be a sphere of the duck's activity ; but man has 
not received, like the duck, instincts calculated to prompt 
him, unerringly, to act in accordance with the adaptations 
of his constitution : — He is, however, endowed with rea- 
son, qualifying him to discover both the adaptations them- 
selves, and the consequences of acting in conformity with, 
or in opposition to, them : Hence, in order to determine, 
by the light of reason, what constitutes an action virtuous 



MORAL SCIENCE. 27 

or vicious, he must become acquainted with his bodily and 
mental constitution, and its relations. Hitherto this know- 
ledge has been very deficient. 

Philosophers have never been agreed about the existence 
or non-existence even of the most important mental facul- 
ties and emotions in man — such as benevolence, and the 
sentiment of justice ; and being uncertain whether such 
emotions exist or not, they have had no stable ground from 
which to start in their inquiries into the foundations of 
virtue. Accordingly, since the publication of the writings 
of Hobbes, in the 1 7th century, there has been a constant 
series of disputes among philosophers on this subject. 
Hobbes taught that the laws which the civil magistrate 
enjoins are the ultimate standards of morality. Cud worth 
endeavoured to show that the origin of our notions of right 
and wrong is to be found in a particular faculty of the mind 
which distinguishes truth from falsehood. Mandeville 
declares that the moral virtues are mere sacrifices of self- 
interest made for the sake of public approbation, and calls 
virtue the "political offspring which flattery begot upon 
pride." Dr. Clarke supposes virtue to consist in acting 
according to the fitnesses of things. Mr. Hume endea- 
voured to prove that " utility is the constituent or measure of 
virtue." Dr. Hutcheson maintains that it originates in the 
dictates of a moral sense. Dr. Paley does not admit sucn 
a faculty, but declares virtue to consist " in doing good to 
mankind in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake 
of everlasting happiness." Dr. Adam Smith endeavours to. 
show that sympathy is the source of moral approbation. 
Dr. Reid, Mr. Stewart, and Dr. Thomas Brown, maintain 
the existence of a moral faculty. Sir James Mackintosh 
describes conscience to be compounded and made up of 
associations. Dr. Ralph Wardlaw, of Glasgow, in a work 
on Ethics, published in 1834, can see nothing in Conscience 
except Judgment. 

Here, then, we discover the most extraordinary conflict 
of opinion prevailing concerning the foundation of virtue. 
But this does not terminate the points of dispute among 
philosophers in regard to moral science. Its very existence, 
nay, the very possibility of its existence, as a philosophical 
study, is called in question. Dr. Wardlaw says, " Suppose 
that a chemist were desirous to ascertain the ingredients 
pf water. What estimate should we form of his judgment, 



*8 THE FOUNDATION OF 

if, with this view, he were to subject to his analysis a 
quantity of what had just passed in the bed of a sluggish 
river, through the midst of a large manufacturing city, from 
whose common sewers, and other outlets of impurity, it had 
received every possible contamination which, either by 
simple admixture or by chemical affinity, had become incor- 
porated with the virgin purity of the fountain ; and if, 
proceeding on such analysis, he were to publish to the world 
his thesis on the composition of water 1 Little less prepos- 
terous must be the conduct of those philosophers who 
derive their ideas of what constitutes rectitude in morals 
from human nature as it is. They analyze the water of the 
polluted river, and refuse the guide that would conduct 
them to the mountain spring of its native purity." — {Chris- 
tian Ethics, p. 44.) 

In these remarks Dr. Wardlaw evidently denies the 
possibility of discovering, in the constitution of the human 
mind, a foundation for a sound system of Ethics. He 
supports his denial still more strongly in the following 
words : " According to Bishop Butler's theory, human 
nature is ' adapted to virtue ' as evidently as * a watch is 
adapted to measure time? But suppose the watch, by the 
perverse interference of some lover of mischief, to have 
been so thoroughly disorganized— its moving and its subor- 
dinate parts and power so changed in their collocation and 
their mutual action, that the result has become a constant 
tendency to go backward instead of forward, or to go back- 
ward and forward with irregular, fitful, ever-shifting alterna- 
tion — so as to require a complete remodelling, and especially 
a readjustment of its great moving power, to render it fit 
for its original purpose ; would not this be a more appropriate 
analogy for representing the present character of fallen man ] 
The whole machine is out of order. The mainspring has 
been broken ; and an antagonist power works all the parts 
of the mechanism. It is far from being with human nature 
as Butler, by the similitude of the watch, might lead his 
readers to suppose. The watch, when duly adjusted, is 
only, in his phrase, ' liable to be out of order.' This might 
6uit for an illustration of the state of human nature at first, 
when it received its constitution from its Maker. But it 
has lost its appropriateness now. That nature, alas ! is not 
now a machine that is merely ' apt to go out of order ;' it 
is out of order ; so radically disorganized, that the grand 



MORAL SCIENCE. 29 

original power which impelled all its movements has been 
broken and lost, and an unnatural power, the very opposite 
of it, has taken its place ; so that it cannot be restored to 
the original harmony of its working, except by the interpo- 
sition of the omnipotence that framed it." (P. 126.) 

The ideas here expressed by Dr. Wardlaw, are enter- 
tained, with fewer or more modifications, by large classes 
of highly respectable men, belonging to different religious 
denominations. 

How, then, amid all this conflict of opinion as to the 
foundations, and even possibility of the existence, of moral 
science, is any approach to certainty to be attained 1 

I have announced that this course of lectures will be 
founded on phrenology. I intend it for those hearers who 
have paid some attention to this science ; who have seen 
reasonable evidence that the brain consists of a congeries 
of organs — that each organ manifests a particular mental 
faculty — and that, other conditions being equal, the power 
of manifesting each faculty bears a proportion to the size 
of its organs. To those individuals who have not seen 
sufficient evidence of the truth of these positions, I fear 
that I have little that can be satisfactory to offer. To them, 
I shall appear to stand in a condition of helplessness equal 
to that of all my predecessors whose conflicting opinions I 
have cited. These eminent men have drawn their conclu- 
sions, each from his individual consciousness, or from ob- 
serving human actions, without having the means of arriving 
at a knowledge of the fundamental faculties of the mind 
itself. They have, as it were, seen men commit gluttony 
and drunkenness ; and, in ignorance of the functions of the 
stomach, have set down these vices as original tendencies 
of human nature, instead of viewing them as abuses merely 
of an indispensable appetite. Without phrenology I should 
find no resting-place for the soles of my feet ; and I at once 
declare, that, without its aid, I should as soon have attempt- 
ed to discover the perpetual motion, as to throw any light, 
by the aid of reason alone, on the foundations of moral 
science. The ground of this opinion, I have already stated. 
Unless we are agreed concerning what the natural consti- 
tution of the mind is, we have no means of judging of the 
duties which that constitution prescribes. Once for all, 
therefore, I beg permission to assume the great principles 
and leading doctrines of phrenology to be true ; and I 
3* 



30 THE FOUNDATION OF 

shall row proceed to show you in what manner I apply them 
to unravel the Gordian knot of Ethics, which at present 
appears so straitly drawn and so deeply entangled. I do 
not despair of revealing to your understandings principles 
and relations, resembling, in their order, beauty, and wis- 
dom, the works of the Deity in other departments of nature. 
First, then, in regard to the possibility of moral philoso- 
phy existing as a natural science. Dr. Wardlaw speaks 
of the human mind as of a watch that has the tendency to 
go backward, or fitfully backward and forward ; as having 
its mainspring broken ; and as having all the parts of the 
mechanism worked by an antagonist power. This descrip- 
tion might appear to be sound to persons who, without 
great analytic powers of mind, resorted to no standard ex- 
cept the dark pages of history, by which to test its truth : 
but the Phrenologist appeals at once to the brain, which is 
the organ of the mental faculties. Assuming that it is the 
organ of the mind, I ask, Who created it 1 Who endowed 
it with its functions 1 Only one answer can be given — It 
was God. When, therefore, we study the mental organs 
and their functions, we go directly to the fountain-head of 
true knowledge regarding the natural qualities of the hu- 
man mind. Whatever we shall ascertain to be written in 
them, is doctrine imprinted by the finger of God himself. 
If we are certain that those organs were constituted by the 
Creator, we may rest assured that they have all a legitimate 
sphere of action. Our first step is to discover this sphere, 
and to draw a broad line of distinction between it and the 
sphere of their abuses ; and here the superiority of our 
method over that of philosophers who studied only their 
own consciousness and the actions of men, becomes appa- 
rent. They confounded abuses with uses ; and because 
man is liable to abuse his faculties, they drew the conclu- 
sion, prematurely and unwarrantably, that his whole nature 
is in itself evil. Individual men may err in attempting to 
discover the functions and legitimate spheres of action of 
the mental organs, and dispute about the conclusions thence 
to be drawn ; but this imputes no spuriousness to the or- 
gans themselves, and casts no suspicion on the principle 
that they must have legitimate modes of manifestation. 
There they stand ; and they are as undoubtedly the work- 
manship of the Creator, as the sun, the planets, or the 
entire universe itself. Error may be corrected by more 



MORAL SCIEXCE. 31 

accurate observations ; and whenever we interpret the con- 
stitution aright, we shall assuredly be in possession of di- 
vine truth. 

Dr. Wardlaw might as reasonably urge the disorder of 
human nature as an argument against the possibility of 
studying the science of optics, as against that of cultivating 
ethical philosophy. Optics is founded on the structure, func- 
tions, and relations of the eye ; and ethics on the structure, 
functions, and relations of the mental organs. Against 
optics he might argue thus : — " The eye is no longer such 
as it was when it proceeded from the hands of the Crea- 
tor ; it is now liable to blindness ; or if, in some more fa- 
voured individuals, the disorder of its condition does not 
proceed so far as to produce this dire effect, yet universal 
experience proves that human nature now labours under 
opaque eyes, squinting eyes, long-sighted eyes, and short- 
sighted eyes ; and that many individuals have only one 
eye. The external world also is no longer what it origi- 
nally was. There are mists which obscure the rays of light, 
clouds which intercept them, air and water which refract 
them ; and almost every object in creation reflects them. 
Look at a straight rod half plunged into water, and you will 
see it crooked. Can a science founded on such organs, 
which operate in such a medium, and are related to such 
objects, be admitted into the class of ascertained truths, by 
which men are to regulate their conduct 1" He might con- 
tinue, u Astronomy, with all its pompous revelations of 
countless suns, attended by innumerable worlds rolling . 
through space, must also be laid in the dust, and become a 
fallen monument of human pride and mental delusion. It 
is the offspring of this spurious science of optics. It pre- 
tends to record discoveries effected in infinite space by 
means of these perverted human eyes, acting through the 
dense and refracting damps of midnight air. Away with 
such gross impositions on the human understanding ! Away 
with all human science, falsely so called !" 

There would be as much truth in an argument like this, 
as in that urged by Dr. Wardlaw against moral philosophy, 
founded on the study of nature. The answer to these 
objections against optics as a science, is, that the constitu- 
tion, functions, and relations of the eye have been appointed 
by the Creator ; that, although some unsound eyes exist, 
yet we have received judgment to enable us to discriminate 



32 THE FOUNDATION OF 

between sound eyes, and diseased or imperfect eyes. Again, 
we admit that mists occasionally present themselves ; but 
we ascertain the laws of light by observations made at times 
when these are absent. Certain media also unquestionably 
refract the luminous rays ; but they do so regularly, and 
their effects can be ascertained and allowed for. When, 
therefore, we observe objects by means of sound eyes, and 
use them in the most favourable circumstances, the know- 
ledge which we derive from them is worthy of our acceptance 
as truth. 

The parallel holds good, in regard to the mind, to a much 
greater extent than many persons probably imagine. The 
Creator has fashioned all the organs of the human mind, 
conferred on them their functions, and appointed to them 
their relations. We meet with some individuals, in whom 
the organs of the selfish propensities are too large, and the 
moral organs deficient : these are the morally blind. We 
eee individuals who, with moderate organs of the propensi- 
ties, have received large organs of Benevolence and Ve- 
neration, but deficient organs of Conscientiousness : these 
have a moral squint. But we meet also with innumerable 
persons in whom the organs of the propensities are moderate, 
and the moral and intellectual organs well developed ; who 
thereby enjoy the natural elements of a sound moral vision ; 
and who need only culture and information to lead them to 
moral truths, as sound, certain, and applicable to practice, 
as the conclusions of the optician himself. Revelation 
necessarily supposes in man a capacity of comprehending 
and profiting by its communications ; and Dr. Wardlaw's 
argument appears to me to strike as directly at the root of 
man's capacity to understand and interpret Scripture, as to 
understand and interpret the works and natural institutions 
of the Creator. 

Dr. Wardlaw, we have seen, discards natural ethics 
entirely, and insists that Scripture is our only guide in 
morals. Archbishop Whately, on the other hand, who is 
not less eminent as a theologian and certainly more distin- 
guished as a philosopher than Dr. Wardlaw, assures us that 
• 4 God has not revealed to us a system of morality such as 
would have been needed for a being who had no other means 
of distinguishing right and wrong. On the contrary, the 
inculcation of virtue and reprobation of vice in Scripture, 
gre jn such a tone as seem to presuppose a natural powex, 



MORAL SCIENCE. 33 

or a capacity for acquiring the power to distinguish them. 
And if a man, denying or renouncing all claims of natural 
conscience, should practise, without scruple, everything he 
did not find expressly forbidden in Scripture, and think 
himself not bound to do anything that is not there expressly 
enjoined, exclaiming at every turn — 

' Is it so nominated in the bond V 

he would be leading a life very unlike what a Christian's 
should be." 

In my humble opinion, it is only an erroneous view of 
human nature, on the one side or the other, that can lead 
to such contradictory opinions as these. I agree with 
Archbishop Whately. 

By observing the organs of the mind, then, and the men- 
tal powers connected with them, phrenologists perceive that 
three great classes of faculties have been bestowed on man. 

1. Animal Propensities. 

2. Moral Sentiments. 

3. Intellectual Faculties. 

Considering these in detail, as I have done in my previous 
courses, and in my System of Phrenology, and as I now 
assume that all of you have done, we do not find one of 
them that man has made, or could have made, himself. 
Man can create nothing. Can we fashion for ourselves a 
new sense, or add a new organ, a third eye for instance, to 
those we already possess ] Impossible. All those organs, 
therefore, are the gifts of the Creator ; and in speaking of 
them as such, I am bound to treat them with the same 
reverence that should be paid to any of his other works. 
Where, then, I ask, do we, in contemplating the organs, 
find the evidence of the mainspring being broken % Where 
do we find the antagonist power, which works all the 
mechanism contrary to the original design 1 Has it an 
organ 1 I cannot answer these questions : I am unable to 
discover either the broken mainspring, or an organ for the 
antagonist power. I see, and feel — as who does not 1 — the 
crimes, the errors, the miseries of human beings, to which 
Dr. Wardlaw refers as proofs of the disorder of which he 
speaks ; but phrenology gives a widely different account 
of their origin. We observe, for example, that individual 
men commit murder or blasphemy, and we all acknowledge 
that this is in opposition to virtue ; but we do not find an 



34 THE FOUNDATION OF 

organ of murder, or an organ whose office it is to antagonize 
all the moral faculties, and to commit blasphemy. We 
perceive that men are guilty of gluttony and drunkenness ; 
but we nowhere find organs instituted whose function is to 
commit these immoralities. All that we discover is, that 
man has been created an organized being ; that, as such, 
he needs food for nourishment ; that, in conformity with 
this constitution, he has received a stomach calculated to 
digest the flesh of animals and to convert it into aliment ; 
and that he sometimes abuses the functions of the stomach : 
and when he does so, we call this abuse gluttony and 
drunkenness. We observe farther, that in aid of his sto- 
mach, he has received carnivorous teeth ; and in order to 
complete the system of arrangements, he has received a 
propensity having a specific organ, prompting him to kill 
animals that he may eat them. In accordance with these 
endowments, animals to be killed and eaten are presented 
to him in abundance by the Creator. A man may abuse 
this propensity and kill animals for the pleasure of putting 
them to death — this is cruelty ; or he may go a step farther 
—he may wantonly, under the instigation of the same 
propensity, kill his fellow-men, and this is murder. But this 
is a widely different view of human nature from that which 
supposes it to be endowed with positively vicious and 
perverse propensities — with machinery having a tendency 
only to go backward, or to go alternately and fitfully back- 
ward and forward. Those individuals, then, who commit 
murder, abuse their faculty of Destructiveness by directing 
it against their fellow-men. We have evidence of this 
fact : The organ is found large in those who have a tendency 
so to abuse it, and in them, in general, the moral organs 
are deficient. 

Again, it is unquestionable that men steal, cheat, lie, 
blaspheme, and commit many other crimes ; but we in vain 
look in the brain for organs destined to perpetrate these 
offences, or for an organ of a power antagonist to virtue, 
and whose proper office is to commit crimes in general. 
We discover organs of Acquisitiveness, which have legiti- 
mate objects, but which, being abused, lead to theft ; organs 
of Secretiveness, which have a highly useful sphere of ac- 
tivity, but which, in like manner, when abused, lead to 
falsehood and deceit ; and so with other organs. 

These organs, I repeat, are the direct gifts of the Creator \ 



MO&AL SCIENCE. 3d 

and if the mere fact of their existence be not sufficient 
evidence of this proposition, we may find overwhelming 
proof in its favour by studying their relations to external 
nature. Those who deny that the human mind is constitu- 
tionally the same now as it was when it emanated from the 
hand of the Creator, generally admit that external nature at 
least is the direct workmanship of the Deity. They do not 
say that man, in corrupting his own dispositions, altered 
the whole fabric of the universe — that he infused into 
animals new instincts, or imposed on the vegetable kingdom 
a new constitution and different laws. They admit that 
God created all these such as they exist. Now, in survey- 
ing vegetable organization, we perceive production from 
an embryo — sustenance by food — growth, maturity, decay, 
and death — woven into the very fabric of their existence. 
In surveying the animal creation, we discover the same 
phenomena and the same results : and on turning to our- 
selves, we find that we too are organized, that we assimilate 
food, that we grow, that we attain maturity, and that our 
bodies die. Here, then, there is an institution by the Crea- 
tor, of great systems (vegetable and animal) of production, 
growth, decay, and death. It will not be doubted that these 
institutions owe their existence to the Divine will. 

If it be asserted that men's delinquencies offended the 
Deity, and brought his wrath on the offenders ; and that 
the present constitution of the world is the consequence of 
that displeasure ; philosophy offers no answer to this pro- 
position. She does riot inquire into the motives which in- 
duced the Creator to constitute the world, physical and 
mental, such as we see it ; but, in pointing to the existence 
and constitution of vegetables, of animals, and of man, she 
respectfully maintains that all these God did constitute and 
endow with their properties and relationships ; and that in 
studying them we are investigating his genuine workmanship. 

Now, if we find on the one hand a system of decay and 
death in external nature, animate and inanimate, we find also 
in man a faculty of Destructiveness which is pleased with 
destruction, and which places him in harmony with that order 
of creation : if we find on the one hand an external world, 
in which there exist — fire calculated to destroy life by burn- 
ing, water by drowning, and cold by freezing — ponderous 
and moving bodies capable of injuring us by blows, and a 
great power of gravitation exposing us to danger by falling; 



36 THE FOUNDATION OF 

we discover also, in surveying our own mental constitution, 
a faculty of Cautiousness, whose office it is to prompt us to 
take care, and to avoid these sources of danger. Tn other 
words, we see an external economy admirably adapted to our 
internal economy ; and hence we receive an irresistible con- 
viction that the one of these arrangements had been design- 
edly framed in relation to the other. External destruction 
is related to our internal faculty of Destructiveness ; exter- 
nal danger to our internal faculty of Cautiousness. 

I have frequently remarked that one of the most striking 
proofs of the existence of a Deity, appears to me to be 
obtained by surveying the roots of a tree, and its relationship 
to the earth. These are admirably adapted ; and my argu- 
ment is this : — The earth is a body which knows neither its 
own existence nor the existence of the tree : the tree, also, 
knows neither its own qualities nor those of the earth. Yet 
the adaptation of the one to the other is a real and useful 
relation, which we, as intelligent beings, see and comprehend. 
That adaptation could not exist, unless a mind had conceived, 
executed, and established it ; the mind that did so is not 
of this world ; therefore, a Deity who is that mind, exists, 
and every time we look on this adaptation we see His power 
and wisdom directly revealed to us. The same argument 
applies, and with equal force, to the mental faculties and 
external nature. We see natural objects threatening us with 
danger, and we find in ourselves a faculty prompting us to 
take care of our own safety. This adaptation is assuredly 
divine ; but you will observe that if the adaptation be divine f 
the things adapted must also be divine : the external world 
threatening danger must have been deliberately constituted 
such as it is ; and the human mind must have been delibe- 
rately constituted such as it is ; otherwise this adaptation 
could not exist. 

Again, we find that the human body needs both food and 
raiment, and on surveying the external world we discover 
that in a great portion of the earth there are winter's barren 
frosts and snows. But in examining the human mind, we 
find a faculty of Construetiveness, prompting and enabling 
us to fabricate clothing ; and Acquisitiveness, prompting us 
to acquire and store up articles fitted for our sustenance and 
accommodation, so as to place us in comfort when the chill 
winds blow and the ground yields us no support. We dis- 
cover also, that nature presents us with numberless law 



MORAL SCIENCE. 37 

materials, fitted to be worked up, by means of our faculties, 
into the -very commodities of which our bodies stand in need. 
All these gifts and arrangements, I repeat, are assuredly of 
divine institution ; and divine wisdom, goodness, and power, 
are conspicuously displayed in them ail. But you will ob- 
serve that individual men, by abusing the faculty of Con- 
structiveness, oftentimes commit forgeries, pick locks, and 
perpetrate other crimes ; and that by abusing Acquisitive- 
ness they steal. 

Here, then, is a wide difference between Dr. Wardlaw's 
views and mine, in regard to human nature. His broken 
mainspring and antagonist power are nowhere to be met with 
in all the records of philosophy ; while the crimes which he 
ascribes to it are accounted for by abuses of organs clearly- 
instituted by the Creator, having legitimate spheres of action, 
and wisely adapted to a world obviously arranged by Him 
in relation to them. 

Dr. Wardlaw appears to have studied human nature 
chiefly in the actions of men, and he has not distinguished 
between the faculties bestowed by the Creator, and the 
abuses of them, for which individual delinquents alone are 
answerable. 

If these views be well founded, moral philosophy, as a 
scientific study, becomes not only possible, but exceedingly 
interesting and profitable. Its objects are evidently to trace 
the nature and legitimate sphere of action of all our facul- 
ties, and their relation to the external world, with the con- 
viction that to use them properly is virtue, to abuse them is 
vice. 

These principles, if sound, enable us to account for the 
barren condition of moral philosophy, as a science. 

The numerous errors, the confusion and contradiction of 
previous moralists, are to be ascribed to their having no stable 
philosophy of mind. They possessed no knowledge of the 
organs of the mind, and no sufficient means of discriminating 
between what was natural and what incidental in human 
conduct. Sir James Mackintosh remarks, that " there must 
be primary pleasures, pains, and even appetites, which arise 
from no prior state of mind, and which, if explained at all, 
can be derived only from bodily organization ; for," says he, 
" if there were not, there could be no secondary desires. 
"What the number of the underived principles may be, is a 
question to which the answers of philosophers have been 
4 



38 TH2 FOUNDATION OF 

extremely various, and of which the consideration is not 
necessary to our present purpose. The rules of philosophi- 
zing, however, require that causes should not be multiplied 
without necessity." 

With all deference to Sir James Mackintosh's authority, 
I conceive that the determination of u the number of the 
underived principles " of mind, is the first step in all sound 
mental science, and especially in ethics ; and when he ad- 
mits that these " can be derived only from bodily organi- 
zation," it is unphilosophical in him to add, " that the 
rules of philosophizing require that causes should not be 
multiplied without necessity." Who would think of at- 
tempting either to multiply or diminish senses, feelings, or 
intellectual powers depending on " bodily organization,'' 
unless he could multiply and diminish, make and unmake, 
corresponding bodily organs at the same time 1 

In my System of Phrenology I have presented you with 
a view of the underived faculties of mind, connected with 
specific organs, in so far as these have been ascertained ; 
I have endeavoured to point out the sphere of action of 
each, and to explain the effects of size in the organs on 
the power of manifesting the faculties. These points being 
assumed, an intelligible foundation is laid for ethical science. 
Bearing in mind the three great divisions of the human 
faculties into Animal Propensities, Moral Sentiments, and 
Intellectual Powers, let us attend to Bishop Butler's expo- 
sition of the groundwork of moral philosophy. 

Bishop Butler, in the preface to his Sermons, says, " It 
is from considering the relations which the several appetites 
and passions in the inward frame have to each other, and, 
above all, the supremacy of reflection or conscience, that 
we get the idea of the system or constitution of human 
nature. And from the idea itself it will as fully appear, 
that this our nature, i. e., constitution, is adapted to virtue, 
as from the idea of a watch it appears that its nature, i. e., 
constitution or system, is adapted to measure time. 

" Mankind has various instincts and principles of action, 
as brute creatures have ; some leading most directly and 
immediately to the good of the community, and some most 
directly to private good. 

" Man has several which brutes have not ; particularly 
reflection or conscience, an approbation of some principles 
or actions, and disapprobation of others. 



MORAL SCIENCE. 39 

" Brutes obey their instincts or principles of action ac- 
cording to certain rules ; suppose the constitution of their 
body, and the objects around them. 

" The generality of mankind also obey their instincts and 
principles, one and all of them ; those propensions we call 
good, as well as the bad, according to the same rules, 
namely, the constitution of their body, and the external cir- 
cumstances which they are in. 

" Brutes, in acting according to the rules before-men- 
tioned, their bodily constitution and circumstances, act 
suitably to their whole nature. 

" Mankind also, in acting thus, would act suitably to their 
whole nature, if no more were to be said of man's nature 
than what has been now said ; if that, as it is a true, were 
also a complete, adequate account of our nature. 

" But that is not a complete account of man's nature. 
Somewhat farther must be brought in to give us an ade- 
quate notion of it ; namely, that one of those principles of 
action, conscience, or reflection, compared with the rest, as 
they all stand together in the nature of man, plainly bears 
upon it marks of authority over all the rest, and claims the 
absolute direction of them all, to allow or forbid their grati- 
fication : a disapprobation of reflection being in itself a prin- 
ciple manifestly superior to a mere propension. And the 
conclusion is, that to allow no more to this superior princi- 
ple or part of our nature, than to other parts ; to let it 
govern and guide only occasionally in common with the rest, 
as its turn happens to come, from the temper and circum- 
stances one happens to be in ; this is not to act conformably 
to the constitution of man ; neither can any human creature 
be said to act conformably to his constitution of nature, 
unless he allows to that superior principle the absolute 
authority which is due to it." — (Butler's Works, vol. ii. 
Preface.) 

I agree with Butler in thinking that certain of our fa- 
culties are intended to rule, and others to obey ; and that 
the belief that it is so, is intuitive in well-constituted minds. 

According to phrenology, the intellectual faculties per- 
ceive objects that exist, with their qualities, phenomena, 
and relations ; but they do not feel specific emotions. The 
organs of intellect lie in the ( anterior lobe of the brain. In 
the coronal region there are organs which manifest emotions 
or feelings, called the moral sentiments, viz., Benevolence, 



40 THE FOUNDATION OF 

Veneration^ and Conscientiousness. The power in any in- 
dividual of experiencing each of these emotions bears a rela- 
tion to the size of its own organs. These emotions are felt 
to have a commanding authority conferred on them, so that 
whatever actions they denounce as disagreeable to them, 
are felt to be wrong, and whatever actions they feel to be 
agreeable, are pronounced to be right ; and we can give no 
other account of this order of our nature, except that it has 
pleased God so to constitute us. 

In applying these principles to our present subject, I ob- 
serve that the organ of Philoprogenitiveness, for example, 
exists, and that its function is to produce the love of chil- 
dren. This love carried into action may produce a variety 
of effects. It may prompt us to gratify every desire of the 
child, however fantastic, if the indulgence will give it plea- 
sure for a moment ; but when the intellect is employed to 
trace the consequences of this gratification, and sees that it 
is injurious to the health, the temper, the moral dispositions, 
and the general happiness of the infant, then Benevolence 
disapproves of that mode of treatment, because it leads to 
suffering, which Benevolence dislikes ; Conscientiousness 
disapproves of it, because it is unjust to the child to misdi- 
rect its inclinations through ignorant fondness ; and Vene- 
ration is offended by it, because our duty to God requires 
that we should improve all his gifts to the best advantage, 
and not prepare an infant for crime and misery, by culti- 
vating habits of reckless self-indulgence, regardless of all 
ultimate results. If, in any individual mother, Philoproge- 
nitiveness exists very large, in combination with weak organs 
of the moral sentiments and intellect, she may abuse this 
beautiful instinct by pampering and spoiling her children ; 
but it is an error to charge the conduct of an ill-constituted, 
and perhaps an ill-informed individual mind, against human 
nature in general, as if all its faculties were so perverted 
that they could manifest themselves only in abuses. My 
object will be to expound the courses of action to which we 
are prompted by all our faculties, and to subject them to the 
review of the intellect and moral sentiments acting in com- 
bination ; and I shall admit all actions to be virtuous or 
right which are approved of by these combined powers, and 
treat all as vicious or wrong which are disavowed by them ; 
and my doctrine is, that it is accordance with, the dictates of 
these combined facalties which constitutes certain actions 



MORAL SCIENCE. 41 

virtuous, and discordance with them which constitutes other 
actions vicious. 

We are now able to understand the origin of the various 
theories of the foundation of virtue to which I alluded at 
the commencement of this lecture, and which have been 
the themes of so much discussion among philosophers. 
Most of the authors whom I have quoted recognise one of 
these three great foundations of virtue : According to them, 
1st, All actions are virtuous which tend to promote th^ hap- 
piness of sentient and intelligent beings, and they are 
virtuous because they possess this tendency ; 2dly, All 
actions are virtuous which are conformable to the will of 
God, and they are so for this reason, and no other ; 3dly, 
All actions are virtuous which are in conformity with the 
dictates of our moral sense or moral faculty, which con- 
formity is the sole characteristic of virtue. The partisans 
of each of these foundations of virtue have denied the 
reality or sufficiency of the other foundations. These dif- 
ferences of opinion may be thus accounted for. 

The sentiment of Benevolence desires universal happi- 
ness, or the general good of all beings. When we wantonly 
sacrifice the happiness of any being, it is pained, and pro- 
duces uneasy emotions in our minds. Those philosophers 
who place the foundation of virtue in the tendency of the 
action judged of, to produce happiness, are right, in so far, 
because this is one foundation, but they are wrong in so far 
as they teach that it is the only foundation of virtue. 

In Tike manner the organ of Veneration desires to yield 
obedience to the will God, and it experiences painful emo- 
tions when we knowingly contravene its dictates. Those 
philosophers who place the essence of virtue in obedience 
to the will of God, are sound in their judgment, in so far 
as this is one essential foundation of virtue, but they err in 
so far as they represent it to be the only one. 

And, thirdly, Conscientiousness produces the feelings of 
duty, obligation, and incumbency. It desires to do justice 
in all things. It enforces the dictates of our other moral 
faculties. Benevolence, for instance, from its own consti- 
tution, desires to communicate happiness, and Conscien- 
tiousness enforces its dictates by proclaiming that it is our 
duty to act in conformity with them. It causes us to feel 
that we are guilty or criminal if we wantonly destroy or 
impair the enjoyment of anv being. It enforces also the 
4* 



42 THE FOUNDATION OF 

aspirations of Veneration, and tells us that we are guilty 
if we disobey the will of God. Farther, its own special 
function is to enforce justice, when our own rights or feel- 
ings, and those of other men, come into competition. Those 
philosophers who founded virtue in a moral sense, were 
right in so far as this faculty is one most important founda- 
tion of virtue ; but it is not the only one. 

Eich of the moral sentiments produces the feeling of 
right and wrong in its own sphere ; Benevolence proclaims 
cruelty to be wrong, and Veneration condemns profanity : 
But each is liable to err when it acts singly. There are 
men, for example, in whom Benevolence is very strong, 
and Conscientiousness very weak, and who, following the dic- 
tates of the former, without reference to those of the latter 
sentiment, often perpetrate great wrongs by indulging in an 
extravagant generosity at the expense of others. They are 
generous before they are just. Charles Surface, in the 
School for Scandal, is the personification of such a cha- 
racter. Veneration acting singly, is liable to sanction 
superstitious observances ; or acting in combination with 
Destructiveness, without Benevolence and Conscientious- 
ness, it may approve of cruel persecution for the sake of 
preserving the purity of the faith which it has embraced. I 
consider the virtue of an action to consist in its being in 
harmony with the dictates of enlightened intellect and of 
all the moral faculties acting in combination. 

The moral faculties often do act singly, and while they 
keep within the limits of their virtuous sphere, the dictates 
of all of them harmonize. We have a similar example in 
music. Melody and time both enter into the constitution 
of music, but we may have time without melody, as in beat- 
ing a drum ; or melody without time, as in the sounds of an 
JEolian harp. But the two faculties which take cognizance 
of melody and time are constituted so as to be capable of 
acting in harmony, when they are both applied to the same 
object. So it is in regard to the moral sentiments. If a 
man fall into the sea, another individual, having a large or- 
gan of Benevolence, and who can swim, may be prompted, 
by the instinctive impulse of benevolence, instantly to leap 
into the water and save him ; without, in the least, think- 
ing of the will of God, or the obligations of duty. But 
when we calmly contemplate the action, we perceive it to 
be one falling without the legitimate sphere of Benevolence. 



MORAL SCIENCE. 43 

It is approved of by enlightened intellect, and is also con- 
formable at once to the divine will, and to the dictates of 
Conscientiousness. In like manner every action that is 
truly conformable to the will of God, or agreeable to Vene- 
ration, when acting within its proper sphere, will be found 
just and beneficial in its consequences, or in harmony also 
with Conscientiousness and Benevolence. And every just 
and right action will be discovered to be beneficial in its 
consequences, and also in harmony with the will of God. 

When one of these faculties acts independently of the 
other, it does not necessarily err, but it is more liable to do 
so, than when all operate in concert. This is the reason 
that any theory of morals, founded on only one of them, is 
generally imperfect or unsound. 

The idea of resolving morality into intellectual percep- 
tions of utility, into obedience to the will of God, or into 
any other single principle, has arisen, probably, from the or- 
gan of the mental faculty on which that one principle depends 
having been largest in the brain of the author of the theory, 
in consequence of which he felt most strongly the particu- 
lar emotion which he selected as its foundation. Those 
individuals, again, who deny that there is any natural basis 
for moral science, and who regard the Bible as the only 
foundation of moral and religious duty, are generally defi- 
cient in the organs either of Conscientiousness or Benevo- 
lence ; or of both ; and because they feebly experience the 
dictates of a natural conscience, they draw the inference 
that it is the same with all mankind. 

Another question remains — What means do we possess 
for discovering the qualities of actions, so that our mora? 
faculties may give emotions of approval or disapproval upon 
sound data \ For example — Veneration disposes us to 
obey the will of God, but how shall we discover what the 
will of God is ? It is the office of the intellect to do so. 
For instance — A young lady from England had been taught 
from her infancy that God had commanded her to keep Good 
Friday holy, and sacred to religious duties. When she 
came to Scotland for the first time, and saw no sanctity at- 
tached to that day, her Veneration was disagreeably affect- 
ed ; and if she also had treated the day with indifference, 
her conscience would have upbraided her. In a few weeks 
afterward, the half-yearly fast day of the church of Scot- 
land came round, and she felt no sanctity whatever to be 
attached to it ; her intellect had never been informed that 



44 THE FOUNDATION OF 

either God or the church had appointed that day to be held 
sacred ; she desired to follow her usual occupations, and 
was astonished at the rigid sanctity with which the day was 
kept by the Scots. Here the intellect gave the information, 
and Veneration acted according to its lights. 

The intellect must be employed, therefore, to discover 
all the motives, relations, and consequences of the actions 
to be judged of, and the moral sentiments will give emotions 
of approval or disapproval, according to their aspect thus 
presented to them. In many ordinary cases no difficulty in 
judging occurs ; for instance, the mere perception of a fel- 
low-creature struggling in the water is sufficient to rouse 
Benevolence, and to inspire us with the desire to save him. 
But when the question is put, Is an hospital for foundling 
children benevolent 1 — if we look only at one result, (saving 
the lives of individual children,) we would say that it is ; 
but if the intellect observe all the consequences ; for in- 
stance, first, the temptation to vice afforded by provision 
being made for illegitimate children ; secondly, the mortality 
of the infants, which is enormous, from their being with- 
drawn from maternal care and intrusted to mere hireling 
keepers ; thirdly, the isolation of the children, so reared, 
from all kindred relationship with the rest of the race ; 
and, fourthly, the expense which is thrown away in this very 
questionable arrangement : I say, after the intellect has dis- 
covered and contemplated all these facts and results, the 
sentiment of Benevolence would not be gratified with found- 
ling hospitals, but would desire to apply the funds dedicated 
to them to more purely beneficent institutions. Without 
intellect, therefore, the sentiments have not knowledge ; 
and without moral sentiments, the intellect sees merely 
facts and results, but feels no emotions. 

If, then, this theory of our moral constitution be well 
founded, it explains the darkness and confusion of the 
opinions entertained by previous philosophers on the subject. 

Dr. Wardlaw's antagonist power is merely the animal pro- 
pensities acting with undue energy, and breaking the bounds 
prescribed to them by the moral sentiments and intellect. 
They will be most liable to do this, in those individuals in 
whom the organs of the propensities are large, and those of 
the moral sentiments deficient ; but there is no organ or 
faculty in itself immoral, or necessarily opposed to the moral 
sentiments, as Dr Wardlaw supposes. 

To be able, then, to discover what courses of action are 



MORAL SCIENCE. 45 

at once beneficial in their tendency, agreeable to the will of 
God, and conformable to the dictates of Conscientiousness, 
we must use our intellectual faculties in examining nature. 
Believing that man and the external world are both the work- 
manship of the Creator, I propose, in the following lectures, 
to consider — 

1st, The constitution of man as an individual ; and en- 
deavour to discover what duties are prescribed to him by its 
qualities and objects. 

2dly, I shall consider man as a domestic being, and en- 
deavour to discover the duties prescribed to him by his con- 
stitution, as a husband, a father, and a child. 

3dly, I shall consider man as a social being, and discuss 
the duties arising from his social qualities. This will involve 
the principles of government and political economy. 

4thly, I shall consider man as a religious being, and dis- 
cuss the duties which he owes to God, so far as these are 
discoverable from the light of nature. 



LECTURE II. 



ON THE SANCTIONS BY WHICH THE NATURAL LAWS OP 
MORALITY ARE SUPPORTED. 

Every law supposes a Lawgiver, and punishment annexed to 
transgression — God prescribes certain actions by our consti- 
tution, and He is therefore the Lawgiver — He supports his 
laws by rewards and punishments — Does He do so by special 
acts of providence ? — Or are his rewards and punishments 
certain consequences of good or evil, appointed by Him to 
follow from our actions ? — It is important to show that God 
dispenses justice in this world ; because we know no other, 
and if He be not just here, there is no natural and logical 
ground for inf rringthat He will be just in any other world 
— Evidence that He does dispense justice here — His sup 
posed injustice is apparent only — Philosophers have not 
understood the principles of His government --The indepen- 
dent action of the several natural laws is the key to it — If 
we obey the physical laws, they reward us with physical 
advantages — If we obey the organic laws, they reward us 
with health — If we obey the moral laws, they reward us with 
mental joy — If we disobey any one of these laws, we are 
punished under it, although we observe all the others — There 
is more order and justice in the Divine Government in this 
world than is generally recognised. 

In my last lecture I endeavoured to point out the foun- 
dations on which Moral Phibsophy, inferred from the consti- 



46 THE SANCTIONS OF 

tution of nature, rests. The mental organs and faculties 
being the gift of God, each must have a legitimate use and 
sphere of activity, though doubtless liable to be abused ; and 
the rule for discriminating between uses and abuses is, that 
every act is morally right which is approved of by the moral 
sentiments of Benevolence, Conscientiousness, and Venera- 
tion, operating along with enlightened intellect, while all 
actions disapproved of by these faculties are wrong. Such 
is the internal guide to morality with which man has been 
furnished. 

The next inquiry is, Whether the judgments of our 
moral and intellectual faculties are supported by any external 
authority in nature 1 Every law supposes a lawgiver, and 
punishment annexed to transgression. Certain courses of 
action being prescribed and forbidden by the very constitution 
of our faculties, God, who made these and their organs, is 
consequently the Lawgiver : but the question remains- 
Has he used any means to give sanction, in this world, to 
his commands revealed to us in nature 1 All are agreed that 
rewards and punishments have been established by God ; 
but as to the extent, manner, and time of dispensing them, 
very different opinions exist. By some it is conceived that 
God, like the human magistrate, watches the infringement of 
his laws in each particular instance, and applies punishment 
accordingly ; but that neither his punishments nor his re- 
wards are the natural effects of the conduct to which they 
have reference. Such is the view of the ways of Providence 
imbodied in Parnell's " Hermit ;" and many of us may 
recollect the pleasure with which we perused that represen- 
tation in our youth, and the regret which we felt, that ex- 
perience did not support the beautiful theory of the poet. 
A servant is described as having been thrown over a bridge 
by his companion, and drowned, which event at first shocks 
our Benevolence ; but we are then told that the servant in- 
tended that evening to murder a kind and indulgent master, 
and that his companion was an angel sent by God to prevent, 
and also to punish him for his intended crime. Another 
scene represents an hospitable rich man's son dying appa- 
rently of convulsions ; but we are told that it was an angel 
sent by God who suffocated him, unseen by the parents, 
to snatch him away from them, because their affections 
doated too fondly on him, and led them to forget their duty 
to heaven. 

These representations, of course, are fiction ; but it is 



THE LAWS OP MORALITY. 47 

not difficult to trace notions of an essentially similar charac- 
ter, existing in the minds of many serious persons, and 
constituting their theory of the divine government of the 
world. The grand feature of this system is, that the pun- 
ishment does not follow from the offence by any natural bond 
of connexion, but is administered separately and directly 
by a special interposition of Providence. The servant's 
wicked design had no natural connexion with his falling 
over the bridge ; and the neglect of heaven, by the parents 
of the child, had no such natural relation to its physiological 
condition', that it should have been cut off in consequence 
of that sin. There are, as I have said, some religious per- 
sons who really entertain notions similar to these ; who 
believe that God, by special acts of providence, or particular 
manifestations of His power, rewards and punishes men's 
actions in a manner not connected, by any natural link of 
cause and effect, with their offences ; or, at least, so remote- 
ly connected that the link is not discernible by human 
sagacity. They conceive that this view imparts to the 
divine government a sublime mysteriousness, which renders 
it more imposing, solemn, and awful, and better calculated 
than any other to enforce obedience on men. To me, on 
the contrary, it appears to be erroneous, and to be a great 
fountain of superstition, at once derogatory to the dignity 
of the Divine Ruler, and injurious to the moral, intellectual, 
and religious character of His subjects. I shall, in a sub- 
sequent part of this lecture, state the reasons of this opinion. 
Another opinion entertained regarding the moral govern- 
ment of the world is, that God has revealed in the Scrip- 
tures every duty which He requires us to perform, and 
every action which He forbids us to do ; that He leaves us 
at full liberty, in this life, to obey or disobey these com- 
mands, as we please ; but that in the world to come He 
will call us to account, and punish us for our sins, or reward 
us for obedience. There are strong objections to this 
theory. Religious persons will at once recognise that the 
instruction communicated to man in the Scriptures may be 
classed under two great heads. The first class embraces 
events that occurred before the existing state of nature 
commenced, (such as the transactions in Paradise before the 
fall,) also events that transcend nature, (such as the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ,) and events that are destined to 
occur when nature shall be no more, (such as the final judg- 



48 THE SANCTIONS OF 

ment ;) together with certain duties (such as belief or faith) 
which are founded on these communications. In regard to 
all • of these, science and philosophy are silent, and the 
Bible is the only rule and direction that is possessed. The 
second head has reference r.o the practical conduct which 
man is bound to pursue with regard to the beings in the 
present world. The first objection, then, to the theory of 
the divine government last-mentioned, is, that the Bible, 
however complete with respect to the former department of 
instruction, really does not contain a full revelation of man's 
secular duties. 

In the last lecture I quoted a striking passage to this 
effect from Archbishop Whately. The Scriptures assume 
that man will use the intellect and moral faculties which 
have been bestowed on him, to discover and perform many 
duties relative to this life, which they have not fully un- 
folded. It is a very important duty to manage aright the 
physical education, as also the moral and intellectual train- 
ing, of children ; and yet the Bible contains no specific rules 
for discharging these duties. It tells us to train up a child 
in the way he should go, and that when he is old he will 
not depart from it ; but it does not describe, with practical 
minuteness, what that way is. If it does so, every incompe- 
tent schoolmaster, and every ignorant mother who injures 
her children through lack of knowledge, must have sadly 
neglected the study of the Bible. But even the most pious 
and assiduous students of Scripture differ greatly among 
themselves in regard to the training of their children ; so 
that the Bible must be either silent, or very obscure on this 
point. How many thousands of Christian parents neglect 
the physical education of their children altogether, and in 
consequence either lose them by death, or render them 
victims of disease ! Again, each sect instructs its children 
in its own tenets, and calls this the way in which they 
should go : yet, when we observe the discord and animosity 
that prevail among these children when they become men 
and women ; when we see the Protestant denouncing the 
Catholic as in error, the Catholic excommunicating the 
Protestant as a heretic, the Trinitarian designating the Uni- 
tarian as an infidel, and the Unitarian condemning the 
Trinitarian as superstitious ; we have proof, certainly, that 
the children, when old, do not depart from the way in which 
they have been trained : but we likewise see, that it is im 



THE LAWS OF MORALITY. 49 

possible that all of them can have been trained in the right 
way, since otherwise there could not be such wide differ- 
ences and so much hostility between them. I can discover, 
therefore, in the Bible no complete code of secular duties, 
as this system assumes that there is. In my work on the 
" Constitution of Man," I have endeavoured to show that 
God Tntended that we should employ our mental faculties in 
studying His works, and by this means fill up the chapter of 
our secular duties, left incomplete in the Bible. 

A second objection to the theory in question is, that it 
essentially implies that God exercises very little temporal 
authority in the government of this world, reserving his 
punishments and rewards chiefly for a future life. One 
cause of this view seems to be, that most of the teachers 
of morals and religion have confined their attention to moral 
and religious duties, and often to their own peculiar and 
erroneous interpretation of these duties, instead of taking 
a comprehensive survey of human nature and of all the du- 
ties inscribed on its constitution. They have regarded life 
as monks do — not practically. They observed that some- 
times a man who believed and acted according to their 
notions of sound religion and sterling virtue, fell into worldly 
misfortune, lost his children prematurely by death, or was 
himself afflicted with bad health ; while other men, who 
believed and acted in opposition to their notions of right, 
flourished in health and wealth, and possessed a vigorous 
offspring ; and they hence concluded that God has left the 
virtuous man to suffer here, for his probation, intending to 
reward him hereafter ; and the wicked to prosper, with the 
view of aggravating his guilt and increasing the severity of 
his future punishment. They have rarely attempted to 
reconcile these apparent anomalies to reason, or to bring 
them within the scope of a just government on earth. It 
humbly appears to me that God does exercise a very stri- 
king and efficient jurisdiction over this world, and that it is 
chiefly our own ignorance of the manner in which he does 
so, that renders us blind to its existence and effects. 

It is of the greatest importance to establish the reality 
and efficiency of the divine government in this world ; be- 
cause a plausible argument has been reared on the contrary 
doctrine, and it has been maintained that there can be no 
reward and, punishment at all, if they are not administered 
in this life. The line of reasoning by which this view is 
5 



50 THE SANCTIONS OP 

supported is as follows : We can judge of God, it is said, 
only from his works. His works in this world are all that 
we are acquainted with. If, therefore, in our experience, 
in this life, we find that virtue goes unrewarded, and that 
vice triumphs, the legitimate inference is that it will always 
be so. Bishop Butler, indeed, in his celebrated " Analogy," 
has argued that, because God has not executed complete 
justice here, he must intend to do so hereafter, as justice is 
one of his attributes ; but Mr. Robert Forsyth, in his work 
on Moral Science, has stated the objection to this line of 
argument in strong terms. '• If," says he, " God has 
created a world in which justice is not accomplished, by 
what analogy, or on what grounds, do we infer that any 
other world of his creation will be free from this imperfec- 
tion 1" Butler would answer, " Because justice is an at- 
tribute of the divine mind." The opponents, however, 
reply, " How do you know that it is so 1 We know the 
Deity only through His works ; and if you concede that 
justice is not accomplished in their administration, the legi- 
timate inference is that justice is not one of His attributes : 
at least the inference that it is one of them is not logical." 
I have heard this last argument stated, although I have not 
seen it printed. 

It is of great importance to moral science to find a valid 
answer to these objections ; and the most satisfactory to 
my mind would be one which showed that the Divine Ruler 
actually does execute justice here, and that therefore we 
are entitled to infer that he will be just also hereafter ; and 
such, accordingly, is the argument which I respectfully pro- 
pose to maintain. When we obtain the right clew to the 
plan of the moral government of the world, many perplexi- 
ties will be found to disappear. 

In order to understand the divine government, we must 
know our own nature, the nature of the things and beings 
around us, and the relations subsisting among them. We 
have received propensities and sentiments urging us to act ; 
but they are blind impulses, and in this respect resemble 
the appetite for food. That appetite being active, we feel 
hunger and desire food ; but unless we employ our intellec- 
tual faculties to find edible substances, and also to discrimi- 
nate wholesome from unwholesome viands, we may either 
starve, or eat poison and die. We must, in like manner, 
employ our intellectual faculties to discover the means of 



THE LAWS OF MORALITY. 51 

gratifying all our propensities and sentiments, and the most 
beneficial forms of doing so. To the lower animals reason 
has been denied, and they are impelled to act directly in a 
manner that is advantageous to them, without experience, 
and without any other guide than God's wisdom, operating, 
unknown to them, through the medium of their instincts. 
But to man is left a wider range of action. He has received 
knowing faculties to study external nature in its physical 
aspects, and reflecting intellect to study its active and pas- 
sive powers and the relations of the whole to himself. 
Regularity of action has been impressed on nature, so that 
man should not be bewildered in his studies and perplexed 
in his conduct ; the same causes, in similar circumstances, 
producing at all times the same effects. 

It is this principle of order which leads us to a right un- 
derstanding of the government of the world, and which fits 
it so admirably for being a school in which to exercise and 
improve all the faculties of man. Each object and being 
of nature, physical and animal, has received a definite con- 
stitution ; and while the circumstances in which it is placed 
continue unchanged, it acts invariably according to the 
laws of that constitution. The supposed anomalies in the 
divine government are apparent only, and form no exception 
to the Creator's attribute of justice, when properly under- 
stood. The key to them is the separate action of the dif- 
ferent departments of our own constitution and of external 
nature, or the independent operation of the natural laws. 
This doctrine is explained in the " Constitution of Man ;" 
and I here introduce it as the grand basis of our future inves- 
tigations. Viewing the world on this principle, we discover, 

1st, That the laws which regulate the action of inani- 
mate matter operate purely as physical influences, indepen- 
dently of the moral or religious character of those whom 
they affect. If six persons be travelling in a coach, and if 
it break down through insufficiency of the axle, or any si- 
milar cause, they will be projected against external objects 
according to the impetus communicated to their bodies by 
the previous motion of the vehicle, exactly as if they had 
been inanimate substances of the same texture and mate- 
rials. Their vices or their virtues will not modify the phy- 
sical influences that impel or resist them. The cause of the 
accident is simply physical imperfection in the vehicle, and 
not the displeasure of God against the individual men for 
their sins. If one break a leg, another an arm, a third hia 



52 THE SANCTIONS OP 

neck, and a fourth escape unhurt, the difference of result is 
to be ascribed solely to the difference of the mechanical ac- 
tion of the coach on their bodies, according to their differ- 
ences of size, weight, and position, or to difference in the 
objects against which they are projected; one falling against 
a stone, and another perhaps alighting on turf. 

The whole calamity in such a case is to be viewed sim- 
ply as a punishment for not attending to the physical laws ; 
in other words, for neglecting to have a coach sufficiently 
strong ; and it serves to render men who are in charge of 
coaches more attentive to this duty in future. The com- 
mon sense of mankind has led them to recognise this prin- 
ciple in their laws ; for in most civilized countries the pro- 
prietors of public conveyances are held answerable for 
damage occasioned by their insufficiency. It is recognised 
also in Scripture. " Think not," says Christ, " that those 
on whom the Tower of Siloam fell were sinners above all 
Israel." In other words, the Tower of Siloam, like all 
other edifices, stood, in the virtue of the law of gravitation, 
as long as its foundations were sound and its superstruc- 
ture firm ; and it fell when one or other of these gave way, 
without the least reference to the persons who were below 
it. The fall would have occurred equally, whenever these 
causes operated, whether any human beings had been under 
it or not, and also independently of the moral and religious 
qualities of these beings. 

If in the coach a profligate had been saved, and a valuable 
Christian killed, some persons would have wondered at the 
inscrutable ways of Providence : but both the bad and the 
good have received from the Creator organized bodies which 
require to be carefully protected from injury that they may 
live ; and the real lesson taught by this calamity is, that no 
moral or religious qualities will be admitted as an excuse 
for not preserving the body from injury by observing the 
physical laws. If a soldier were to appear at parade with 
the touch-hole of his musket rusted up. and, when ordered 
into confinement for this breach of discipline, were to refer 
to the profound respect with which he always treated his 
officers, to the brilliant state in which he kept the barrel of his 
gun, and to the small, obscure nature of the touch-hole, 
which made it escape observation ; the answer would be, 
that the object of his musket was to fire, and that a clear 
touch-hole was a primary and indispensable requisite to this 
end, the want of which could not be compensated for, or 



THE LAWS OP MORALITY. 53 

supplied by respectful demeanour to his officer, by a brightly 
polished barrel, or by any other means whatever. A sound 
body is equally indispensable to Christian usefulness, as a 
clear touch-hole to a serviceable musket. I have elsewhere 
remarked, that if good men could sail in safety in unsound 
ships, or travel in dilapidated carriages, upborne by unseen 
ministers of heaven, on account of their holiness, the world 
would lapse into confusion ; and these good men themselves 
would soon find nothing provided for them but the most 
deplorably crazy conveyances, into which sinners could not 
with safety set a foot. 

The objection may naturally occur, that passengers have 
neither skill nor opportunity for judging of the soundness 
of ships and sufficiency of coaches, and that it is hard that 
they should suffer death and destruction from the careless- 
ness or incapacity of others who let out these articles to 
hire, or employ them in the public service. I shall unfold 
the answer to this objection at a subsequent part of the 
course. It falls under the social law. We avail ourselves 
of the good qualities of our fellow-men, and we must suf- 
fer from their defects when, without due regard to their 
qualifications, we intrust our interests or safety to their care. 
In so far, then, as pain, distress, and calamity, arise from 
the action of the physical laws, (which laws are numerous, 
and their operations extensive,) they ought to be viewed 
merely as punishments for not obeying these laws — punish- 
ments intended to stimulate us to greater attention in ob- 
serving them in future. They forcibly tell us, that if we 
wish to live in safety, we must habitually exercise our under- 
standings in accommodating our conduct to the agencies of 
the material objects around us. It seems irrational to 
suppose that God will hereafter reward good men for the 
sufferings which they bring upon themselves by neglecting to 
study and observe His own injunctions. 

The next class of natural laws to which I solicit your 
attention, is the organic. The foundation of these laws is 
laid in the constitution of our organized frame, and in the 
relations established between it and the external world. 
Thus, the blood is necessary, in order to furnish every part 
of our body with nutriment. It replaces decayed particles 
carried off by the absorbent vessels, and also stimulates the 
brain and other organs so as to enable them to perform their 
functions aright. But to render the blood capable of doing 
5* 



54 THE SANCTIONS OP 

this, it must be supplied with chyle from the stomach and 
oxygen from the lungs ; and hence a necessity arises for 
eating wholesome food and breathing pure air. The bones 
are composed of organized materials, and are supplied with 
certain vessels for their nutrition, and with others for the 
removal of their decayed particles ; and all of these act 
regularly, as the mechanism of a plant acts. The same 
observations apply to the muscles, the skin, the bloodves- 
sels, the brain, and all other portions of the body. 

The point of doctrine which it is of importance for U3 
to keep in view at present is, that growth and decay, health 
and disease, pleasure and pain, in any one or in all of these 
parts, take place according to fixed rules, which are im- 
pressed on the organs themselves, and that the organs act 
invariably, independently, and immutably, according to these 
rules. For instance — if we neglect exercise, the circula- 
tion of the blood becomes languid, and then the bones, 
muscles, nerves, and brain, are not properly nourished ; 
the consequences of which are pain — loss of appetite, of 
strength, of mental vivacity and vigour — and a general 
feeling of unhappiness. If we labour too intensely with 
our minds, we exhaust our brains, impair digestion, and 
destroy sleep ; we soon render our brains, which are the 
organs of the mind, incapable of action ; and finally we are 
visited with lassitude, imbecility, palsy, apoplexy, or death. 
If we exercise our muscles too severely and too long, we 
expend an undue amount of the nervous energy of our bodies, 
and the brain becomes incapable of thinking and the nerves 
incapable of feeling, so that dulness and stupidity seize on 
our mental powers. 

It is, therefore, an organic law of God, inscribed on 
our constitution, and thereby as clearly proclaimed to our 
understandings as if it were written with His finger upon 
tables of stone — That we shall consume a sufficiency of 
wholesome food, and breath unvitiated air. And however 
moral our conduct — however constant our attendance in the 
house of prayer — however benevolent our actions may be 
— yet, if we neglect this organic law, punishment will be 
inflicted In like manner, if the laws of exercise be in- 
fringed — if, for instance, we overwork the brain — we are 
visited with punishment, whether the offence was committed 
in reclaiming the heathen, in healing the sick, in pursuing 
commerce, in gaming, or in ruling a state. If we overtask 



THE LAWS OF MORALITY. 55 

the brain at all, it becomes exhausted, and its action is en- 
feebled ; and as the efficiency of the mind depends on its 
proper condition, the mental powers suffer a corresponding 
obscuration and decay. 

There is obvious reason in this arrangement also. If the 
brain were to flourish under excessive toil, in a good cause, 
and suffer under the same degree of exertion only in a bad 
one, the order of nature would be deranged. Good men 
would no longer be men ; they might dispense with food, 
sleep, repose, and every other enjoyment which binds them 
to the general company of mankind. But according to the 
view which I am expounding, we are led to regard the 
constitution, modes of action, and relations of our organized 
system, as all instituted directly by the Creator ; birth from 
organized parents, growth, decay, and death in old age, 
appear as inherent parts of our very frames, designedly 
allotted to us ; while pain, disease, premature decay, and 
early death, appear, to a great extent, to be the consequences 
of not using our constitutions properly. 

When, therefore, we see the children of good men snatch- 
ed away by death in infancy or youth, we should ascribe 
this calamity to these children having inherited feebly or- 
ganized bodies from their parents, or having, through igno- 
rance or improper treatment, been led to infringe the organic 
laws in their modes of life. The object of their death seems 
to be to impress on the spectators the importance of attend- 
ing to these laws, and to prevent the transmission of imper- 
fect corporeal systems to future beings. If we see the 
children of the wicked flourishing in health and vigour, the 
inference is, that they have inherited strong constitutions 
from their parents, and have not in their own lives seriously 
transgressed the organic laws. We have no authority from 
our philosophy for supposing that Providence, in removing 
the just man's children, intends merely to try his faith or 
patience, to wean him from the world, or to give occasion 
for recompensing him hereafter for his suffering ; nor for 
believing that the unjust man's family is permitted to flour- 
ish, with a view of aggravating his guilt by adding ingratitude 
for such blessings to his other iniquities, in order to augment 
his punishment in a future life. We see, in these results, 
simply the consequences of obedience and disobedience to 
the laws impressed by the Creator on our constitution. 

Mark, now, from how many perplexities and difficulties 



66 THE SANCTIONS OP 

this principle delivers us. When the children of good men 
are healthy, this circumstance is regarded as agreeable to 
the notions which may reasonably be entertained of a just 
Providence. But when other men, not less excellent, have 
feeble children, who die prematurely and leave the parents 
overwhelmed with grief, the ways of Providence are regarded 
as inscrutable ; or, by way of reconciling them to reason, 
we are told that those whom God loveih he chasteneth. 
When, however, the wicked man's children die prematurely, 
this is regarded as a just punishment for the sins of the pa- 
rents : but sometimes they live long, and are prosperous ; 
and this is cited as an example of the long-suffering and 
loving kindness of God ! The understanding is confounded 
by these contradictory theories, and no conclusions can be 
drawn from the events applicable to our practical improve* 
ment. Accordingly, ministers of the gospel, among whom 
these heterogeneous notions of the divine government are 
prevalent, have not only neglected to teach God's natural 
laws to their flocks, but some of them have represented 
natural science as the hand-maid of infidelity, and especially 
phrenology as opposed to Christian truth. Yet, while they 
nave done so, they have not escaped the consequences of 
their neglect. Their discourses have been far less replete 
than otherwise they might have been, with useful practical 
instruction concerning the means of advancing the cause of 
virtue in this world ; and they have not felt at ease in their 
own minds regarding the stability and progress of religion. 
When they shall become the true expounders of God's will 
in regard to this world, (which at present, I am constrained 
to believe many of them are not,) — when they look at the 
independence of the natural laws — when they recognise the 
principle that obedience to each has its peculiar reward, 
and disobedience its appropriate punishment, they will find 
that their difficulties will greatly diminish. The man who 
obeys every law but one, is punished for his single infrac- 
tion ; and he by whom one only is obeyed, does not, on 
account of his neglect of all the others, lose the reward of 
his solitary act of obedience. 

It still remains quite true, that " those whom God loveth 
he chasteneth ;" because all the punishments inflicted for 
the breach of his laws are instituted in love, to induce us to 
obey them for our own good : but we escape from the con- 
tradiction of believing that he sometimes shows his love by 



THE LAWS OP MORALITY. 57 

punishing men who obey his laws ; which would be the case 
if he afflicted good men by bad health, or by the death of 
their children, merely as trials and chastisements, inde- 
pendently of their having infringed the laws of their organic 
constitution. 

We escape also from another contradiction. The most 
religious persons who implicitly believe that disease is sent 
as a chastisement for sin, or in token of divine love, never 
hesitate, when they are sick, to send for a physician, and 
pay him large fees to deliver them as speedily as possible 
from this form of spiritual discipline. This is very incon- 
sistent on their parts. The physician, however, proceeds 
at once to inquire into the physical causes which have dis- 
ordered the patient's organization; he hears of wet feet, 
exposure to cold air, checked perspiration, excessive fatigue, 
or some similar influence, and he instantly prescribes physi- 
cal remedies j and is often successful in removing the disorder. 
In all this proceeding, the common sense of the patient and 
physician leads them to practise the very doctrine which I 
am expounding. They view the suffering as the direct 
consequence of the departure of some of the bodily organs 
from their healthy course of action, and they endeavour to 
restore that state. 

I am furnished with a new and striking illustration of the 
difference of practical result between the one and the other 
of these views of the divine administration of the world. 
When the cholera approached Edinburgh, a board of health 
was instituted under the guidance of -physicians. They 
regarded the cholera simply as a disease, and they viewed 
disease as the result of disordered bodily functions. They, 
therefore, urged cleanliness, supplied nourishing food to the 
poor, and provided hospitals and medicine for the infected ; 
and these means were, on the whole, surprisingly successful. 
Rome is at this moment threatened with the approach of 
cholera ; but the Pope and his Cardinals are pleased to view 
it not as a disease, but as a religious dispensation ; and what 
means do they use to prevent its approach 1 A friend in 
Rome, in a letter dated November 5, 1835, writes thus : — 
"A black image of the Virgin has lately been carried through 
the city by the Pope and all the Cardinals, for the express 
purpose of averting the cholera ; so you see we are in a 
hopeful way, if it should assail us." Every reflecting mind 
must see the superiority of the precautions used in the city 



58 THE SANCTIONS OF 

of Edinburgh, over those practised in Rome ; yet the opi- 
nion that disease is the consequence of disordered bodily 
functions, and that the action of these functions is regulated 
by laws peculiar to themselves and distinct from the moral 
and religious laws, lies at the bottom of these different courses 
of action. My aim, you will perceive, is to bring our phi- 
losophy and our religious notions into harmony, and to render 
our practice consistent with both. 

The third great class of natural laws comprehends the 
moral, religious, and intellectual. These laws are founded 
in the constitution of our mental faculties and their relations. 
In the works on phrenology, the faculties are divided into 
three great classes, Animal Propensities, Moral Sentiments, 
and Intellectual Powers ; and the primitive functions, the 
spheres of activity, and the uses and abuses of each, are 
described, so far as these are ascertained. The ideas which 
I wish now to express are, that each of these faculties has 
objects beneficial to man related to it, which it desires to 
attain, and that there are laws regulating its action in attain- 
ing them ; that the faculties are so far independent of each 
other, that we may pursue the objects of one or more of 
them, and omit the pursuit of the objects of the others ; that 
the results of the action of the faculties are fixed and certain ; 
and that by knowing the primitive functions, the objects and 
the laws of our faculties, we may anticipate, with surprising 
accuracy, the general issue of any course of conduct which 
we may systematically pursue : Farther — that when we 
have acted in conformity with the dictates of the moral sen- 
timents and enlightened intellect, which are the ruling 
powers in our mental constitution, we shall find the issue 
pleasing and beneficial ; and that, when we have acted in 
opposition to their dictates, we shall reap sorrow and dis- 
appointment. 

I shall illustrate these principles by examples. The pro- 
pensity of Acquisitiveness desires blindly to acquire property, 
and this is its primitive function. If it act independently of 
intellect, as it does in idiots, and sometimes in children, it 
may lead to acquiring and accumulating things of no utility. 
If it be directed by enlightened intellect, it will desire to store 
up articles of real value. But it may act, either with or 
without the additional guidance of the moral sentiments. 
When it acts without that direction, it prompts the indivi- 
dual to appropriate to himself things of value, regardless of 



THE LAWS OF MORALITY. 59 

justice and the rights of others. When acting in subordi- 
nation to the moral sentiments, it leads to acquiring property 
by means just and lawful. 

These, then, are three directions which the acquisitive 
propensity may follow ; but there are still a fourth and a 
fifth. It may act under the guidance of the moral senti- 
ments, so far as never to invade the rights of others, and yet 
its action may terminate in its own gratification, without 
any fixed ulterior object. Thus, when a talented merchant 
carries on a great extent of commercial dealings, and 
acquires thousands upon thousands of pounds, all in an 
honourable way, he may do so without ever contemplating 
any good or noble end to be accomplished by means of his 
gains. Or, fifthly, an individual may be animated by the 
desire to confer some substantial enjoyment on his family, 
his relatives, his country, or mankind, and perceiving that 
he cannot do so without wealth, he may employ his ac- 
quisitiveness, under the guidance of intellect and moral 
sentiment, to acquire property for the purpose of fulfilling 
this object. 

According to my perceptions of the divine government, 
there are specific results attached by the Creator to each 
of these modes of action of the propensity ; which result3 
occur in virtue of the laws under which he has appointed 
the faculty to act. For example — When the propensity 
acts without intellect, the result, as I have said, is the ac- 
cumulation of worthless trash. We see this occur occa- 
sionally in adult persons, who are not idiots in other matters, 
but who, under a blind Acquisitiveness, buy old books, old 
furniture, or any other object of which they can obtain a 
bargain. I knew an individual who, under this impulse, 
bought, at a sale of old military stores, a lot of worn-out 
drums. They were set up at sixpence each, and looked so 
large to the eye for the money, that he could not resist bid- 
ding for them. He had no use for them, they were unsale- 
able, and they were so bulky that it was expensive to store 
them. He was, therefore, under the necessity of bestowing 
them on the boys in the neighbourhood ; who speedily made 
the whole district resound with unmelodious noises. In 
these instances, as no law of morality is infringed, the punish- 
ment is simply the loss of the price paid. 

When the propensity acts independently of justice and 
leads to stealing, the moral faculties of impartial spectators 



60 THE SANCTIONS OP 

are offended, and prompt them to use speedy measures to 
restrain and punish the thief. 

When Acquisitiveness acts in conformity with intellect 
and justice, but with no higher aim than its own gratifica- 
tion, the result is success in accumulating wealth, but the 
absence of satisfactory enjoyment of it. The individual 
feels his life vanity and vexation of spirit, because, after 
he has become rich, he discovers himself to be without 
either object or possession calculated to gratify his moral 
and religious feelings, which must be satisfied before full 
happiness can be experienced. This is the direct result of 
the constitution of the mind ; for, as we possess moral facul- 
ties, moral objects alone can satisfy them ; and mere wealth 
is not such an object. 

When the aim of life is to communicate enjoyment to 
other beings, such as a family, relatives, or our fellow-citi- 
zens, and when Acquisitiveness is employed, under the gui- 
dance of moral sentiment and intellect, for the purpose of 
accomplishing this end, success will generally be obtained, 
and satisfaction will also be felt in success ; because, through 
the whole course of life, the highest powers will have pur- 
sued a noble and dignified object, fitted for their gratification, 
and employed Acquisitiveness in its proper and subordinate 
capacity as their ministering servant. 

I have mentioned that every faculty has a legitimate sphere 
of activity, and that happiness and duty consist in the proper 
application of them all. If we add to this, the principle, 
that we cannot attain the rewards or advantages attached to 
the proper employment of any faculty, if we omit to use it, 
we shall have another example illustrative of the order of 
the moral government of the world. For instance, as Pro- 
vidence has rendered property essential to our existence and 
welfare, and given us a faculty prompting us to acquire it ; 
if any individual, born without fortune, shall neglect to ex- 
ercise Acquisitiveness, and abandon himself, as his leading 
occupation, to the gratification of Benevolence and Vene- 
ration, in gratuitously managing public hospitals, in directing 
charity schools, or in preaching to the poor, he will suffer 
evil consequences. He must live on charity, or become poor 
and starve. Observe also, that, in pursuing such a course 
of action, he neglects justice as a regulating motive ; for 
if he had listened to Conscientiousness, it would have dic- 
tated to him the necessity either of making these pursuits 



THE LAWS OF MORALJTY. 61 

his profession, and acting for hire, or of practising another 
profession, and following them only in intervals of leisure. 
St. Paul, in similar circumstances, wrought with his hands, 
and made tents, that he might be burdensome to no one. 
The practical idea which I wish to fix in your minds by this 
example is, that if we pursue objects related exclusively to 
Benevolence and Veneration, although we may obtain them, 
we shall not thereby attain objects related to Acquisitive- 
ness ; and yet, that the world is so arranged, that we must 
attend to the objects of all our faculties before we can fully 
discharge our duties, or be happy. 

Not only so, but there are modes appointed in nature by 
which the objects of our different faculties may be attained ; 
by pursuing which we are awarded with success, and by 
neglecting which we are punished with failure. The object 
of Acquisitiveness, for example, is to acquire things of use. 
But these cannot be reared from the ground, nor constructed 
by the hand, nor imported from abroad in exchange for other 
commodities, without a great expenditure of time, labour, 
and skill. Their value indeed is in general measured by 
the time, labour, and skill, expended in their production. 
The great law, then, which God has prescribed to govern 
Acquisitiveness, and by observing which he promises it suc- 
cess, is, that we shall practise patient, laborious, and skil- 
ful exertion, in endeavouring to attain its objects. " The 
hand of the diligent maketh rich," is the law of nature. 
When, however, men, losing sight of this divine law, resort 
to gaming and speculation, to thieving, cheating, and plun- 
dering, to acquire property ; when " they hasten to become 
rich," they " fall into a snare." Rum is the natural result 
of such conduct ; because, according to nature, wealth can 
be procured only by labour ; and although one acute, or 
strong, or powerful man may acquire wealth by cheating or 
plundering twenty or thirty honest and industrious citizens, 
yet, as a general rule, their combined sagacity and strength 
would, in the end, defeat and punish him ; while, if all, or 
even the majority, of men, endeavoured to procure wealth 
by mere speculation, stealing, and swindling, there would 
speedily be no wealth for them to acquire. 

The Scripture authoritatively declares, " Thou shalt 
not steal ; ;? but when a man with a strong Acquisitiveness 
and defective Conscientiousness enters into a great mer- 
cantile community, in which he sees vast masses of property 
6 



62 THE SANCTIONS OF 

daily changing hands, he often does not perceive the force 
of the prohibition : on the contrary, he thinks that he may, 
with manifest advantage, speculate, lie, cheat, swindle, per- 
haps steal, as a more speedy and effectual means of acquiring 
a share of that wealth, than by practising laborious industry. 
Nevertheless, this must be a delusion ; because, although 
God does not state the reason why he prohibits stealing, 
it is certain that there must exist a reason replete with wis- 
dom. He leaves it to human sagacity to discover the phi- 
losophy of the precept ; and it is the duty of the Christian 
teacher and moral philosopher to unfold to the understand- 
ings of the young, why it is disadvantageous, as well as 
sinful, to break the commandments of the living God. If 
I merely desire a child not to cross a certain path, it will 
feel curiosity on the one hand, struggling against filial reve- 
rence on the other. If I lead it to the path, and show to 
it a mighty gulf which would swallow it up, curiosity is sa- 
tisfied, and a sense of its own danger operates in aid of the 
injunction. Obedience is thereby rendered easier and more 
practicable. Thus it is also with moral duties. Whenever 
the philosophy of the practical precepts of the New Testa- 
ment shall be studied and taught in schools, in the domestic 
circle, and from the pulpit, the whole power of intellectual 
conviction will be added to the authority of the Scripture in 
enforcing them, and men will be induced by a clear percep- 
tion of their own interest in this world, as well as by their 
hopes and fears in relation to the next, to yield obedience 
to the laws of their Creator. What a glorious theme will 
such a philosophy afford to vigorous and enlightened minds 
for the instruction of the people ! 

Similar observations might be made in regard to the laws 
prescribed by nature for the regulation of all our faculties 
in the pursuit of their objects ; but your time does not per- 
mit me to offer more than the preceding illustration. 

If we look at the living world only in the mass, without 
knowing the distinct existence of the mental faculties, their 
distinct objects, and their distinct laws, the results of their 
activity appear to be enveloped in sad confusion : we see 
some moral and religious men struggling with poverty, and 
others prosperous in their outward circumstances ; some 
rich men extremely unhappy, while others are apparently 
full of enjoyment ; some poor men joyous and gay, others 
miserable and repining ; some irreligious men in possession 



THE LAWS OP MORALITY. 63 

of vast wealth, while others are destitute of even the neces- 
saries of life. In short, the moral world appears to be one 
great chaos — a scene full of confusion, intricacy, and con- 
tradiction. But if we become acquainted with the primitive 
faculties, and their objects and laws, and learn that different 
individuals possess them from nature in different degrees 
of strength, and also cultivate them with different degrees 
of assiduity, and that the consequences of our actions bear 
an established relation to the faculties employed, the mys- 
tery clears up. The religious and rich man is he who ex- 
ercises both Veneration and Acquisitiveness according to 
the laws of their constitution ; the religious and poor man 
is he who exercises Veneration, but who, through deficiency 
of the organ, through ignorance or indolence, or some other 
cause, does not exercise Acquisitiveness at all, or not ac- 
cording to the laws by which its success is regulated. The 
rich man who is happy, is one who follows high pursuits 
related to his intellect and moral sentiments, as the grand 
objects of life, and makes Acquisitiveness play its proper, 
but subordinate part. The rich man who is unhappy, is he 
who, having received from a bountiful Creator moral and 
intellectual faculties, has never cultivated them, but em- 
ployed them merely to guide his Acquisitiveness ; the gra- 
tification of which he has made the leading object of his 
life. After he has attained that object, his moral senti- 
ments and intellect being left unprovided with objects, feel 
a craving discontent, which constitutes his unhappiness. 

I could proceed through the whole list of the faculties and 
their combinations in a similar way ; but it is unnecessary 
to do so, as these illustrations will, I hope, enable you to 
perceive the principle which I am anxious to expound. 

Let us now take a brief and comprehensive survey of the 
point at which we have arrived. 

If we are told that a certain person is extremely pious, 
benevolent, and just, we are entitled to conclude that he 
will experience within himself great peace, joy, and comfort, 
from his own dispositions ; because these enjoyments flow 
directly from the activity of the organs which manifest piety, 
justice, and beneficence. We are entitled farther to believe, 
that he will be esteemed and beloved by all good men who 
know him thoroughly, and that they will be disposed to pro- 
mote, by every legitimate means, his welfare and happiness ; 
because his mental qualities naturally excite into activity 



64 THE SANCTIONS OP 

corresponding faculties in other men, and create a sympa- 
thetic interest on their part in his enjoyment. But if we 
hear that this good man has been upset in a coach, and has 
broken his leg, we conclude that this event has arisen from 
neglect of a physical law, which, being independent of the 
moral law, acted without direct relation to his mental qua- 
lities. If we hear that he is sick, we conclude that, in some 
organ of his body, there has been a departure from the laws 
which regulate its healthy activity, and (these laws also be- 
ing distinct) that the sickness has no direct relation to his 
moral condition. If we are told that he is healthy and happy, 
we infer that his organic system is now acting in accordance 
with the laws of its constitution. If we are told that he 
has been afflicted by the loss of an intelligent and amiable 
son, in the bloom of youth, we conclude either that the 
boy has inherited a feeble constitution from his parents, or 
that the treatment of his bodily system, in infancy and youth, 
has been, in some way or other, at variance with the organic 
laws, and that his death has been the consequence, which 
his father's piety could not avert. 

If, on the other hand, we know a man who is palpably 
cold-hearted, grasping, and selfish, we are authorized to 
conclude — first, that he is deprived of that delicious sun- 
shine of the soul, and all those thrilling sympathies with 
whatever is noble, beautiful, and holy, which attend the 
vivacious action of the moral and religious faculties ; and, 
secondly, that he is deprived of the reflected influence of 
the same emotions from the hearts and countenances of the 
good men around him. 

These are the direct punishments in this world, for his 
not exercising his moral and religious powers. But if he 
has inherited a fine constitution, or if he be temperate, 
sober, and take regular exercise, he may reap the blessing 
of health ; and if he does so, he must be regarded as enjoy- 
ing it as the reward of his compliance with the organic laws. 
There is no inconsistency in this enjoyment being permitted 
to him, because the moral and organic laws are distinct, and 
he has obeyed the laws which reward him. If his children 
have received from him a sound frame, and have been 
treated prudently and skilfully, they also may live in health ; 
but this, again, is the consequence of obedience to the 
same laws. If they have inherited feeble constitutions, or 
if their management have been at variance with these laws, 



THE LAWS OP MORALITY. 65 

they will die, just as the children of good men in similar 
circumstances will do. If the selfish man pursue wealth 
according to the laws that regulate its acquisition, he will, 
by that obedience, become rich ; but if he neglect to exer- 
cise Acquisitiveness, or infringe these laws, he will become 
poor, just as the good man would do in similar circum- 
stances. 

It appears to me that, in these arrangements, we see the 
dictates of our moral and intellectual faculties clearly sup- 
ported by the order of external nature ; and hence we obtain 
evidence of an actual moral government existing in full 
force and activity in this world. 

In short, according to this view of the divine government, 
instead of there being confusion and a lack of justice in the 
administration of human affairs, there is the reverse— there 
is a reward for every species of obedience, and a punish- 
ment for every species of disobedience to the Creator's 
laws. In order to preserve our minds habitually under the 
impression of discipline, bur duties correspond to the diffe- 
rent parts of our constitution ; rewards and chastisements 
are annexed to each of them ; and so little of favouritism 
or partiality is shown, that, although we obey all the natural 
laws but one, we do not escape the punishment of in- 
fringing that single law — and, although we break them all 
but one, we are not denied the reward of that solitary in- 
stance of obedience. 

But you will perceive that, before you can comprehend 
this system of government, you must study and become 
acquainted with the objects in nature, by the action of 
which it takes place, whether- these be external, or consist 
of our own bodies and minds. If mankind have hitherto 
lived without this knowledge, can you wonder that the ways 
of Providence have appeared dark and contradictory'? 
And if by means of phrenology we have now discovered 
the constitution of the mind, and its relationship to our bo- 
dies and external nature ; if, moreover, physical science has 
largely opened up to us the constitution and laws of the 
objects by which we are surrounded and affected ; need we 
feel surprise that the dawn of a new philosophy begins to 
break forth upon our vision — a philosophy more consistent, 
more practical, and more consolatory, than any that has 
hitherto appeared 1 

6* 



66 



LECTURE III. 

ADVANTAGES OP A KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRINCIPLES OP MO- 
RALS : DUTIES PRESCRIBED TO MANAS AN INDIVIDUAL: 
SELF CULTURE. 

The views in the preceding lecture accord with those of Bishop 
Butler — We go farther than he did, and show the natural 
arrangements by which the consequences mentioned by him 
take place — Importance of doing this — Certain relations 
have been established between the natural laws, which give 
to each a tendency to support the authority of the whole — 
Examples — Duties prescribed to Man as an Individual con- 
sidered — The object of man's existence on earth is to ad- 
vance in knowledge, wisdom, and holiness, and thereby to 
enjoy his being — The glory of God is promoted by his accom- 
plishing this object — The first duty of Man is to acquire 
knowledge — This may be drawn from Scripture and from 
nature — Results from studying heathen mythology and na- 
ture are practically different — Difference between the old 
and the new philosophy stated — Clerical opposition to these 
lectures. 

Having in the previous lectures considered what consti- 
tutes an action right or wrong, and also the punishments 
which attend neglect of duty, and the rewards which per- 
formance brings along with it, I proceed to remark, that the 
views there unfolded essentially correspond with those en- 
tertained by Bishop Butler, and which he has adopted as 
the groundwork of his treatise on the " Analogy of Natural 
and Revealed Religion." " Now," says he, M in the pre- 
sent state, all which we enjoy, and a great part of what we 
suffer, is put in our own power. For pleasure and pain are 
the consequences of our actions ; and we are endued by the 
Author of our nature with capacities of foreseeing these 
consequences." " I know not that we have any one kind 
or degree of enjoyment, but by the means of our own ac- 
tions. And by prudence and care, we may, for the most 
part, pass our days in tolerable ease and quiet ; or, on the 
contrary, we may, by rashness, ungoverned passion, wilful- 
ness, or even by negligence, make ourselves as miserable 
as ever we please. And many do please to make them- 
selves extremely miserable ; *. e., they do what they know 
beforehand will render them so. They follow those ways, 
the fruit of which they know, by instruction, example, expe- 
rience^ will be disgrace, and poverty, and sickness, and un» 



PRINCIPLES OF MORALS. *67 

timely death. This every one observes to be the general 
course of things ; though, it is to be allowed, we cannot 
find by experience that all our sufferings are owing to our 
own follies." (Part I. chap. 2.) 

The common sense of mankind yields a ready assent to 
this doctrine. We go farther than Bishop Butler, by show- 
ing the laws, or natural arrangements, according to which 
the consequences mentioned by him take place. This is a 
point of material moment in philosophy, and it leads me to 
remark that the grand difference between the exposition of 
moral science which I am now attempting to give, and those 
which have been presented by preceding inquirers, consists 
in this — that, hitherto, moralists generally have laid down pre- 
cepts without showing their foundation in our constitution, 
or the mode in which disregard of them is punished by the 
ordinary operation of natural causes. They failed in this, 
because they were imperfectly acquainted with the consti- 
tution of the mind, and because the independent operation 
of the different natural laws, expounded in my last lecture, 
was either unknown to them, or the consequences were 
not perceived. In their expositions of moral philosophy 
they resembled those who teach us to practise an art with- 
out explaining the scientific principles on which the practice 
is founded. It is my object to explain to you not only the 
practice of virtue, but the laws of our constitution on which 
it depends. 

The difference between Paley's moral philosophy, and 
that which I am now teaching, may be illustrated thus : a 
practical brewer is a man who has been taught to steep 
barley in cold water for a certain time, to spread it on a 
stone floor for so many hours, to dry it on a kiln, at which 
point it is malt ; to grind the malt, to mash it by pouring 
on it hot water, to boil the extract with hops, to cool it, to 
add yeast to it when cold, and to allow it to ferment for a 
certain number of days. A person of ordinary sagacity, 
who has seen these processes performed, will be able to re- 
peat them, and he may thereby produce ale. But all the 
while he may know nothing of the laws of chemical action, 
by means of which the changes are evolved. He will soon 
observe, however, that the fermentation of the worts goes 
on sometimes too rapidly, sometimes too slowly, and that 
he makes bad ale. By experience he may discover what 
he considers causes of these effects ; but he will frequently 



68 PRINCIPLES OP MORAL9. 

find that he has been wrong in hi3 judgment of the causes, 
and he will do harm by his remedies. In short, he will 
learn that, although he knows the rules how to make good 
ale, the practice of them, with uniform success, surpasses 
his skill. The reason of his perplexity is this : the barley 
is organized matter, which undergoes a variety of changes, 
depending partly on its own constitution and partly on the 
temperature of the air, on the quantity of moisture applied 
to it, the thickness of the heap in which it is laid, and other 
causes, of the precise nature and effects of which he is 
ignorant. Farther ; the extract from the malt, which he 
wishes to ferment, is a very active and delicate agent, un- 
dergoing rapid changes influenced by temperature, elec- 
tricity, and other causes, of the operation of which also he 
knows nothing scientifically. If all the materials of his 
manufacture were passive, like stocks and stones, his practi- 
cal rules might carry him much farther toward uniform and 
successful results : but seeing that they are agents, and 
that their modes of action are affected by a variety of ex- 
ternal causes and combinations, he cannot securely rely on 
producing the effects which he wishes to attain, until he 
becomes scientifically acquainted with the qualities of his 
materials, and the modifying influences of the agencies to 
the operations of which they were exposed. After attain- 
ing this knowledge, he becomes capable of suiting his 
practice to the circumstances in which, at each particular 
time, he finds his materials placed. If he cannot yet 
command the result, it is a proof that his knowledge is still 
imperfect. 

This illustration may be applied to the subject of moral 
philosophy. In practical life we are ourselves active be- 
ings, and we are constantly influenced by agents, whose 
original tendencies and capacities differ from each other — 
who are placed in varying circumstances, and who are 
acted on and excited or impeded by other beings. It is a 
knowledge of their nature alone, that can enable us to un- 
derstand the phenomena of such beings occurring under the 
diversified circumstances in which they may be placed. 
And moreover, when the reason why a particular line of 
conduct should be adopted, and the precise way in which 
reward or punishment are linked as natural consequences 
of performance and neglect are known, there is a far higher 
probability of the duty being discharged than when a precept 



PRINCIPLES OP MORALS. 69 

h our only motive to action. Mere rules may no doubt be 
apprehended and practised by superior minds ; but to the 
ordinary understanding, ignorant of their foundations and 
sanctions in nature, their importance and authority are far 
from being so evident as to impress it with a deep sense of 
obligation. 

A great musician may enable another, equally gifted, to 
feel the exquisite harmony of a certain composition ; but he 
will strive in vain to convey the same feeling of it to a 
person destitute of musical talent. By teaching the laws of 
harmony, however, to this individual, he may succeed in 
convincing his understanding' that, in the piece in question, 
these laws are observed, and that there can be no good 
music without such observance. 

Although the natural laws act separately and indepen- 
dently, in the manner pointed out in the immediately pre- 
ceding lecture, certain relations have been established 
between them, which tend to support the authority of the 
whole. In consequence of these relations, obedience to 
each law increases our ability to obey the others, and 
disobedience to one disables us to some extent for paying 
deference to the rest. 

The man, for example, who obeys the physical laws, 
places himself in a favourable condition to observe the or- 
ganic, the moral, and the intellectual laws. He is safe from 
personal injury, and he creates by his industry the elements 
of physical plenty, which are as important to the favourable 
action of his higher faculties, as air is to the lungs, or light 
to the eyes. 

By obeying the organic laws, in favourable circumstances, 
he ensures the possession of vigorous health ; and when 
we view the muscular system of man as the instrument 
provided to him by the Creator for operating on physical 
nature, and the brain as the means of acting on sentient 
and intelligent beings, we discover that organic health is a 
fundamental requisite of usefulness and enjoyment. We 
are led to see that the possession of it contributes in the 
highest degree to our obeying the physical laws, and also to 
our discharging our active duties, in other words, to our 
obeying the laws of morality and intellect. General obedi- 
ence to the organic laws, also, by preserving the body in a 
favourable condition of health, fits it for recovering in the 
best manner from the effects of injuries sustained by inad- 



70 PRINCIPLES OF MORALS. 

vertent infringement of the physical laws. Disobedience 
to the organic laws, on the other hand, unfits us for obey- 
ing the other laws of our being. A student, for instance, 
who impairs his brain and digestive organs by excessive 
mental application and neglect of exercise, weakens his 
nerves and muscular system, in consequence of which he 
becomes feeble, and incapable of sustaining bodily action, 
in other words, in coping with the law of gravitation, with- 
out pain and fatigue. He becomes, also, more liable to 
disease. A man who breaks the organic laws by commit- 
ting a debauch, becomes, for a season, incapable of intel- 
lectual application. 

By obeying the moral and intellectual laws — that is r by 
exercising our whole mental faculties, according to the laws 
of their constitution, and directing them to their proper ob- 
jects — we not only enjoy the direct pleasure which attends 
the favourable action and gratification of all our powers, 
but become more capable of coping with the physical influ- 
ences which are constantly operating around us, and of 
bending them in subserviency to our interest and our will ; 
and also of preserving all our organic functions in a state of 
regulated vigour and activity. 

In short, if we obey the various laws instituted by the 
Creator, we find that they act harmoniously for our welfare, 
that they support each other, and that the world becomes a 
clear field for the active and pleasurable exercise of all our 
powers ; while, if we infringe one, not only does it punish 
us for the special act of disobedience, but the offence has 
the tendency to impair, to some extent, our power of obey- 
ing the others. So that we discover in the natural laws a 
system of independent, yet combined and harmonious ac- 
tion, admirably adapted to the mind of a being who has 
received not only observing faculties, fitted to study existing 
things and their phenomena, but reflecting intellect, calcu- 
lated to comprehend their relations, adaptations, and reci- 
procal influences. 

Thus, the first grand step in comprehending the principles 
of the Divine government is, to learn to look on the physical 
world as it actually exists, and not through the medium of 
a perverted imagination, or of erroneous assumptions ; and 
the second is, to compare it with the constitution of man, 
physical and mental, as designedly adapted to it. We shall 
not find that it is an elysium, and we know that we are not 



DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 71 

angels ; but we shall discover, that while the heavens declare 
the glory of the Creator, and the revolving firmament of suns 
and worlds proclaim His might, the elements and powers of 
man's mind and body, viewed in their tendencies and adap- 
tations, bespeak, in a language equally clear and emphatic, 
His intelligence, beneficence, and justice. 

Having thus expounded the general system of the Divine 
government, let us now consider the duties prescribed to us 
by our constitution and its relations. 

THE DUTIES PRESCRIBED TO MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 

Descending to particular duties, we may first consider 
those prescribed to man as an individual, by his own con- 
stitution and that of the external creation. 

The constitution of man seems to show that the object of 
his existence on earth is to advance in knowledge, wisdom, 
and holiness ; and thereby to enjoy his being. Divines add, 
that another object is to " glorify." According to my views, 
obedience to the Divine laws — or, what is the same thing, 
performance of our duties — is the prime requisite ; then 
comes enjoyment ; and the glory of God is evolved as the 
result of these two combined. His wisdom and power are 
strikingly conspicuous, when we discover a system, appa- 
rently complicated, to be, in fact, simple, clear, beautiful, 
and beneficent : and when we behold His rational creatures 
comprehending His will, acting in harmony with it, repeat- 
ing all the enjoyments which His goodness intended for them, 
and ascending in the scale of being by the cultivation and 
improvement of their noble powers, the glory of God strikes 
every intelligent mind as surpassingly great. A deep con- 
viction then arises, that the means by which we can advance 
that glory, is to promote, where possible, the fulfilment of 
the Creator's beneficient designs, and sedulously to co-ope- 
rate in the execution of his plans. When the object of 
human existence is regarded in this light, it becomes evident 
that obedience to every natural law is a positive duty imposed 
on us by the Creator, and that infringement or neglect of 
it is a positive sin or transgression against His will. Hence, 
we do not promote the glory of God by singing His praises, 
offering up prayers at His throne, and performing other 
devotional exercises, if, at the same time^ by neglecting the 
physical, organic, and moral laws, we act in direct contradic- 
tion to His plan of government, and present ourselves before 



72 DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL, 

Him as spectacles of pain and misfortune, suffering ths 
punishment of our infringements of His institutions, instead 
of reaping enjoyment by obedience, as He intended that we 
should do. Every law of God, however proclaimed to us 
—whether made known by the Scriptures or by His works 
— has an equal claim to observance ; and as religion consists 
in revering God and obeying His will, it thus appears that 
the discharge of our daily secular duties is literally the ful- 
filment of an essential part of our religious obligations. 

It is only by presenting before the Creator our bodies in 
as complete a condition of health and vigour, our minds as 
thoroughly disciplined to virtue and holiness, and as replete 
with knowledge, and, in consequence, our whole being as 
full of enjoyment, as our constitution will admit of — that 
we can really show forth His goodness and glory. 

If these ideas be founded in nature, the first duty of man 
as an individual is obviously to acquire knowledge of himself 
and of God's laws, in whatever record these are contained. 
I infer this to be a duty, because I perceive intellectual 
powers bestowed on him, obviously intended for the purpose 
of acquiring knowledge ; and not only a wide range of action 
permitted to all his powers, corporeal and mental, with plea- 
sure annexed to the use, and pain to the abuse of them : 
but also a vast liability to suffer by the influence of the ob- 
jects and beings around him, unless, by means of knowledge, 
he accommodate his conduct to their qualities and action. 
And while he is thus circumstanced, he has received few 
instinctive directions for the guidance of his conduct ; so 
that he has only the alternative presented to him of using 
his reason, or of enduring evil. 

It has too rarely been inculcated that the gaining of 
knowledge is a moral duty ; and yet, if our constitution be 
so framed that we cannot securely enjoy life, and discharge 
our duties as parents and members of society without it, 
and if a capacity for acquiring it has been bestowed on us, 
its acquisition is obviously commanded by the Creator, as a 
duty of the highest moment. The kind of knowledge which 
we are bound to acquire is clearly that of God's will and 
laws, whether written in the Scriptures, or in the great book 
of creation. It is the office of divines to instruct you in 
the duties prescribed in the Bible ; and I confine myself to 
the department of nature. 

The ignorant man suffers many inconveniences and dia- 



DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 73 

tresse9 to which he submits as inevitable dispensations of 
Providence : his own health perhaps fails him ; his children 
are perverse and disobedient ; his trade is unsuccessful ; 
and he regards all these as visitations from God, as exam- 
ples of the chequered lot of man on earth. If he be religious, 
he prays for a spirit of resignation, and directs his hopes 
to heaven : but if the foregoing view of the divine adminis- 
tration of the world be sound, he ought to ascribe his suf- 
ferings, in great part, to his own ignorance of the scheme 
of creation, and to his non-compliance with its rules. In 
addition to his religious duties, he ought, therefore, to fulfil 
the natural conditions appointed by the Creator as antece- 
dents to happiness, and then he may expect a blessing on 
his exertions and on his life. 

Important, however, as the knowledge of nature thus ap- 
pears to be, it is surprising how recently the efficient study 
of it has begun. It is not more than three centuries since 
the very dawn of inductive philosophy ; and some of the 
greatest scientific discoveries have been made within the last 
fifty or sixty years. These facts tell us plainly that the 
race of man, like the individual, is progressive ; that it has 
its infancy and youth ; and that we who now exist, live only 
in the day-spring of intelligence. In Europe and America 
the race may be viewed as putting forth the early blossoms 
of its rational nature ; while the greater part of the world 
lies buried in utter darkness. And even in Europe it is 
only the more gifted minds who see and appreciate their true 
position. These, from the Pisgah of knowledge, gaze upon 
the promised land of virtue and happiness stretched out be- 
fore their intellectual eye ; distant, indeed, but not inacces- 
sible — and sufficiently near to permit them to descry, however 
faintly, its beauty and luxuriance. 

If the study of nature and nature's laws be our first duty 
as rational and accountable beings, a moment's reflection 
will satisfy you that the instruction hitherto generally given 
even to the young of the higher ranks, has been preposter- 
ous and unavailing for purposes of practical utility. If a 
boy be taught the structure, uses, and laws of health of the 
lungs, he will be furnished with motives for avoiding sudden 
transitions of temperature, excessive bodily and mental 
exertion, and sleeping in ill-ventilated rooms ; and, on the 
other hand, for supporting every measure for improving, the 
purity of the air in his. native city, for rendering churches, 
7 



74 DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 

theatres, lecture-rooms, and all places of public resort, mora 
accordant with the laws of the human constitution in regard 
to temperature and ventilation ; in short, this knowledge 
will enable him to avoid much evil and to accomplish much 
practical good. If he do not acquire it, he will be exposed, 
in consequence of his ignorance, to suffer from many of 
these external influences operating unknown to himself, and 
injuriously both on his mind and body. If, on the other 
hand, he be taught that Romulus and Remus were suckled 
by a she-wolf; that ^Eneas was the son of Venus, who was 
the goddess of love ; that in Tartarus were three Furies, 
called Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megcera, who sent wars and 
pestilence through the earth, and punish the wicked after 
death with whips of scorpions ; that Jupiter was the son of 
Saturn, and the chief among all the gods ; that he dwelt 
on Mount Olympus, and employed one-eyed giants called 
Cyclops, whose workshop was in the heart of Mount ^Etna, 
to forge thunderbolts, which he threw down on the world 
when he was angry — the youth learns mere poetical fancies, 
often abundantly ridiculous and absurd, which lead to no 
useful actions. As all the personages of the heathen my- 
thology existed only in the fancies of poets and sculptors, 
they are not entities or agents ; and do not operate in any 
shape whatever on human enjoyment. The boy who has 
never dedicated his days and nights to the study of them, 
does not suffer punishment for his neglect ; which he infal- 
libly does, for his ignorance of nature. Neither is he re- 
warded for acquiring such knowledge, as he is by becoming 
acquainted with nature, which always enables him to do 
something that otherwise he could not have done, to reap 
an enjoyment which otherwise he should have wanted, or 
to avoid an evil which otherwise would have overtaken him. 
Jupiter throws no thunderbolts on those who neglect the 
history of his amours and of his war with the giants ; the 
Furies do not scourge those who are ignorant that, accord- 
ing to some writers, they sprang from the drops of blood 
which issued from a wound inflicted by Saturn upon his 
father Coelus, and that, according to others, they were the 
daughters of Pluto and Proserpine ; and the she-wolf does 
not bite us, although we be not aware that she suckled the 
founders of Rome — or, to speak more correctly, that credu- 
lous and foolish historians have said so. But if we neglect 
the study of God's laws, evil and misery most certainly ensue. 



DUTIES OP MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 75 

These observations, however, are not to be understood 
is an unqualified denunciation of classical learning. The 
sentiment of Ideality finds gratification in poetic fictions : 
9ut it is absurd to cultivate it and the faculty of Language 
to the exclusion of others not less important ; and besides, 
t must be kept in view, that in the pages of the Book of 
Nature, as well as in those of Homer, Virgil, and Ovid, 
ample materials are to be found for the cultivation and gra- 
tification of a refined taste. 

In the past ages of the world, systematic instruction in 
nature, her laws, and her rewards and punishments, has been 
sadly neglected. Even the best educated classes have in 
general been left destitute of this knowledge. They have 
been instructed in classical literature, composed chiefly of 
elegant and ingenious fables ; while the people at large have 
been taught to read and write, and left at that point to grope 
their way to knowledge without teachers, without books, 
and without encouragement or countenance from their supe- 
riors. In no country have the occupations of society, and 
the plan of life of individuals, been deliberately adopted in 
just appreciation of the order of nature. We ought, there- 
fore, in reason, to feel no surprise that the very complex 
mechanism of our individual constitution, and the still more 
complicated relations of our social condition, frequently move 
harshly, and sometimes become deranged. It would have 
been miraculous indeed, if a being, deliberately framed to 
become happy only in proportion to his knowledge and 
morality, had found himself in possession of all the comforts 
and enjoyments of which his nature when cultivated is 
susceptible, while he was yet in profound ignorance of him- 
self, of the world, and of their mutual adaptations. 

As individuals, our sphere of intellectual vision is so 
limited, that we have great difficulty in discovering the in- 
dispensable necessity of knowledge to the discharge of our 
duties and the promotion of our happiness. We are too 
apt to believe that our lot is fixed, and that we can do ex- 
tremely little to change and improve it. We feel as if we 
were overruled by a destiny too strong for our limited powers 
to cope with : and, as if to give strength and permanence 
to this impression, the man of the world asks us, What 
benefit would scientific information confer on the labourer, 
whose duty consists in digging ditches, in breaking stones, 
or in carrying loads, all day long - % and when the day is done, 



76 DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 

whose only remaining occupation is to eat, sleep, and propa- 
gate his kind 1 Or of what use is information concerning 
nature's laws to the shopkeeper, whose duty in life is to 
manage his small trade, to pay his bills punctually when 
due, and to collect sharply his outstanding debtc 1 If these 
were all the duties of the labourer and of the shopkeeper, 
the man of the world would be right. But we discover hi 
Ihe individuals who have these duties allotted to them, fa- 
culties capable of far higher aims, and we say that nature 
points out the necessity of cultivating them. The answer 
which we make to the foregoing questions is, that the scheme 
of life of the day-labourer and of the shopkeeper, as now 
cast, is far short of the perfection which it is capable of 
reaching, and which it was evidently designed by the Crea- 
tor to attain. It does not afford scope for the exercise of 
their noblest and best gifts, and it does not favour their 
steady advance in the scale of moral, religious, and intel- 
lectual existence. 

The objector assumes that these classes have already at- 
tained the limits of their possible improvement ; and if the 
case were so, the conclusion might be sound, that science 
will be useless to them. But if they be at present far from 
enjoying the full sweets of existence ; if their condition be 
capable of vast amelioration, without deranging the order 
of social life ; and if the knowledge of themselves and of 
nature be a means of producing these advantages ; then the 
duty of acquiring knowledge is at once fundamental and 
paramount — it lies at the foundation of all improvement. 
If the mass of the people be destined never to rise above 
their present condition of ignorance, want, and toil, we must 
abandon the idea that the attributes of justice and benevo- 
lence are manifested by God in this world. 

I am anxious to press this idea earnestly on your consi- 
deration, because it appears to me to constitute the grand 
difference between the old and the new philosophy. The 
characteristic feature of the old philosophy, founded on the 
knowledge, not of man's nature but of his political history, 
is, that Providence intended different lots for men, (a point 
in which the new philosophy agrees,) and that, in the divine 
appointment of conditions, the millions, or vast masses of 
the people, were destined to act the part onlv of industrious 
ministers to the physical wants of society, while a favoured 
few were meant to be the sole recipients of knowledge and 



DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 77 

refinement. In accordance with this principle, it is regard- 
ed not only as Utopian, but as actually baneful and injurious 
to the happiness of the industrious classes themselves, to 
open up to their minds high and comprehensive views of 
their own mental capabilities and those of external nature ; 
because, it is said that such ideas render them discontented 
with their condition, while the arrangements of the Creator 
have placed impassable barriers in the way of their ever ad- 
vancing beyond it. According to the old philosophy, there- 
fore, it is not a duty imposed on every individual to exercise 
his intellectual powers in extending his acquaintance with 
nature ; on the contrary, a labouring man fulfils his part 
completely when he acquires a knowledge of his moral and 
religious duties from the Bible, becomes master of his trade, 
and quietly and soberly practises the duties of his station, 
unmoved by ambition and unenlightened by science, till 
death consigns him to the grave. According to this philo- 
sophy, human nature is now stationary, or at least its ad- 
vances are conducted exclusively by the higher classes, or 
by Providence in ways incomprehensible to us and which 
need none of our assistance ; and so far as our influence is 
concerned, we ought to regard it as having already reached 
the summit level of improvement, and our greatest interest 
should be to prevent its flowing back into turbulence and 
vice. 

The new philosophy, on the other hand, or that which is 
founded on knowledge of man's nature, admits the allotment 
of distinct conditions to different men, because it recognises 
evident differences in their mental and bodily endowments ; 
but in surveying their faculties it discovers that all of them 
possess, in a greater or less degree, powers of observation 
and reflection calculated to observe and study nature ; the 
sentiment of Ideality prompting them to desire refinement 
and to long for perfect institutions ; the feeling of Benevo- 
lence desiring universal happiness ; the sentiment of Con- 
scientiousness rejoicing in justice ; and emotions of Hope, 
Veneration, and Wonder, causing the glow of religious de- 
votion to spring up in their souls, and their whole being to 
desire acquaintanceship with a God whom they may love, 
worship, and obey. And it proclaims, that beings so gifted 
were not destined to exist as mere animated machinery, lia- 
ble to be superseded at every stage of their lives by the 
steam-engine, the pulley, or the lever ; but were clearly in* 
7* 



78 DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL, 

tended to advance in their mental attainments, and to rise 
higher in the scale of rational existence. 

This conclusion is absolutely irresistible, if the general 
idea of the divine administration of the world, communicated 
in my last lecture, be sound — that which regards all nature 
as proceeding under fixed, independent, but harmonious 
laws. Under such a system, the Creator speaks forth from 
every element of nature, and proclaims his will to every 
human being, that he must acquire knowledge or suffer evil. 
We may rest assured that the fulfilment of every necessary 
duty is compatible with enlarged mental attainments in all 
the race ; because the Creator has not bestowed capacities 
and desires on his creatures which their inevitable condi- 
tion renders it impossible for them to cultivate and gratify. 
There are humbler minds fitted to perform the humbler 
duties of life, and no cultivation of which they are capable, 
although greatly superior to that which they now enjoy, will 
carry them beyond them. But in a thoroughly moral and 
enlightened community, no useful office will be degrading ; 
nor will any be incompatible with the due exercise of the 
highest faculties of man. 

It is delightful to perceive that these views are gaining 
ground, and are daily more and more advocated by the press. 
I recommend to your perusal a work just published,* en- 
titled " My Old House, or the Doctrine of Changes," in 
which they are ably and eloquently enforced. Speaking of 
the purposes of God in the administration of the world, the 
author observes, that " the great error of mankind, on this 
subject, has at all times been, that feeling themselves, at least 
in the vast multitude of cases, to occupy (by the ordination 
of Providence, or by what they commonly consider as their 
unfortunate lot in life) but a very obscure and laborious sta- 
tion in the household, they are apt to think that it matters 
little with what spirit they advance to their toils — that they 
cannot be in a condition to give any appreciable advance- 
ment to the plans of the Master — and that, at any rate, if 
they do not altogether desert their place, and permit it to 
run into disorder, they have done all that can well be ex- 
pected from them, or that they are indeed in a condition to 
do, for the progressive good of the whole. Take, for in- 
stance, the condition of a person who, in the lowest and 
obscurest lot of life, is intrusted with the bringing up of a 
* 28th November, 1835. 



DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 79 

family — and how often do we hear from such persons the 
complaint, that all their cares are insufficient for the mo- 
ment that is passing over their heads — and that, provided 
they can obtain the mere necessaries of life, they cannot be 
required to look to any higher purposes which may be ob- 
tained their by cares. And yet, what situation in life is in 
reality more capable of being conducted in the most efficient 
and productive manner, or more deserving the nicest and most 
conscientious care of those intrusted with it 1 For, are not 
the hearts and understandings of the young committed to 
the immediate care of those who chiefly and habitually oc- 
cupy the important scenes of domestic life — and if they pay 
a due regard, not only to the temporal, but to the moral and 
intellectual interests of their charge — if they make home the 
seat of all the virtues which are so appropriately suited to 
it — if they set the example — an example which is almost 
never forgotten — of laborious worth struggling, it may be, 
through long years, and yet never disheartened in its toils— 
and if by these means they make their humble dwelling a 
scene of comfort, of moral training, and of both material 
and moral beauty, which attracts the eye and warms the 
hearts of all who witness it — how truly valuable is the part 
which such servants of the Master have been enabled to 
perform for the due regulation of all parts of his household 
— and when their day of labour is done, and the cry goeth 
forth, ' Call the labourers to their reward,' with what placid 
confidence may they advance to receive the recompense of 
their toils — and be satisfied, as they prepare themselves for 
1 the rest that awaits them,' that, though their lot in life has 
been humble and their toils obscure, they have yet not been 
unprofitable servants, and that the results of their labours 
shall yet be ■ seen after many days.' " " The same style 
of thought may be applied to all the varied offices which 
human life, even in its lowest forms and most unnoticed 
places, can be found to present — and when these varied 
conditions and duties of the ' humble poor ' are so consider- 
ed, it will be found that a new light seems to diffuse itself 
over the whole plan of the divine kingdom — and that no task 
which the Master of the household can assign to any of his 
servants, is left without inducements to its fulfilment, which 
may prepare the labourer for the mosfcheerfuland delighted 
attention to his work." (P. 84.)* How important is know- 
* The reputed author of these sentiments is a clergyman of 



80 DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 

ledge to the due fulfilment of the humble, yet respectable, 
duties here so beautifully described ! 

I conclude this lecture by observing that the duty of ac- 
quiring knowledge implies that of communicating it to others 
when attained ; and tnere is no form in which the humblest 
individual may do more good, or assist more effectually in 
carrying forward the improvement and happiness of man- 
kind, than in teaching them truth and its applications. I 
feel that I lie under a moral obligation to communicate to 
you (who, by your attendance here, testify your desire of 
instruction,) the knowledge concerning the natural laws of 
the Creator, which my own mind has been permitted to dis- 
cover. I learn that other instructors of the people have 
considered it to be their duty to denounce, as dangerous, 
the knowledge which is here communicated, and to warn 
you against it.* But I am not moved by such declama- 
tions. What I teach you, I believe to be truth inscribed by 
the hand of God in the book of nature ; and I have never 
been able to understand what is meant by a dangerous truth. 
All natural truth is simply knowledge of what the Creator 
has instituted and done ; and it savours of impiety, and not 
of reverence, to stigmatize it as injurious. The very oppo- 
site is the fact. Lord Bacon has truly said, that " there 
are, besides the authority of Scripture, two reasons of ex- 
ceeding great weight and force, why religion should dearly 
protect all increase of natural knowledge : the one because 
it leads to the greater exaltation of the glory of God ; for, 
as the Psalms and other Scriptures do often invite us to 
consider and to magnify the great and wonderful works of 
God, so if we should rest only in the contemplation of those 
which first offer themselves to our senses, we should do a 

the Established Church of Scotland ; and in May, 1839, the 
general assembly of that church appointed a committee of 
their number to inquire into the nature of his works, and to re- 
port whether he should be prosecuted for heresy ! This is one, 
among many instances, of the evils of an Established Church. 
Its position is immoveable ; and as it cannot advance with the 
stream of knowledge, it forms itself into a great barrier, to 
obstruct the current of human improvement. 

* These lectures were reported in one of the newspapers 
in Edinburgh, and, during the delivery of them, more than one 
of the clergy of the Established Church preached sermons 
against them. 



DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 81 

like injury to the majesty of God, as if we should judge of 
the store of some excellent jeweller by that only which is 
set out to the street in his shop. The other reason is, be- 
cause it is a singular help, and a preservative against un- 
belief and error ; For, says our Saviour, ye do err, not 
knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God ; laying before 
us two books or volumes to study, if we will be secured 
from error — first, the Scriptures, revealing the will of God ; 
and then the creatures, expressing his power." » We have 
seen, however, that not the poicer of God only, but also his 
will, is expressed in the constitution of M the creatures ;" 
and hence a double reason becomes manifest why it is our 
duty to study them. 

It would seem, therefore, that the instructors alluded to 
have assumed that it is not truth, but error, which is incul- 
cated in this place. If they had pronounced such an opi- 
nion after inquiry, and for reasons stated, I should have been 
ready to pause and reconsider my views ; but they have 
condemned us unheard and untried — assuming boldly that, 
because we teach ideas different from their own individual 
notions, we are necessarily in error. This assumption in- 
dicates merely that our accusers have not arrived at the 
same preceptions of the Divine government with ourselves 
— a result that will by no means be wondered at by any one 
who considers that they have not followed the course of 
inquiry pursued by us. There is, however, some reason 
for surprise, that their opinions should be advanced as un- 
questionably superior to, and exclusive of, those of other 
men, adopted after patient observation and thought, seeing 
that many of them are the emanations of a dark age in 
which the knowledge of Nature's laws did not exist, and 
that they are prohibited, under pain of forfeiting their livings, 
from changing their tenets, even although they should see 
them to be erroneous. 

I advance here, for your acceptance, no proposition based 
on the authority of my own discernment alone ; but submit 
each to your scrutiny and judgment. I enable you, as far 
as in me lies, to detect all the errors into which I may in- 
advertently fall, and ask you to embrace only the ideas which 
seem to be amply supported by evidence and reason. We 
are told by a great authority, to judge of all things by their 
fruits ; and, by this test, I leave the doctrines of this phi- 
losophy to stand or fall. What are the effects of them on 



82 DUTIES OP MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 

your minds 1 Do you feel your conceptions of the Deity 
circumscribed and debased by the views which I have pre- 
sented — or, on the contrary, purified and exalted 1 In the 
simplicity, adaptations, and harmony of Nature's laws, do 
you not recognise positive and tangible proof of the omnis- 
cience and omnipotence of the Creator — a solemn and 
impressive lesson, that in every moment of our existence, 
we live, and move, and have our being, supported by his 
power, rewarded by his goodness, and restrained by his jus- 
tice 1 Does not this sublime idea of the continual presence 
of God now cease to be a vague, and, therefore, a cold and 
barren conception ; and does it not, through the medium 
of the natural laws, become a deep-felt, encouraging, and 
controlling reality] Do your understandings revolt from 
such a view of creation, as ill adapted to moral, religious, 
and intelligent being? or do they ardently embrace it, and 
leap with joy at light evolving itself from the moral chaos, 
and exhibiting order and beauty, authority and rule, in a 
vast domain where previously there was great darkness, 
perplexity, and doubt 1 Do you feel your own nature de- 
based by viewing every faculty as calculated for virtue, yet 
so extensive in its range, that it has a sphere of action even 
beyond virtue, in the wild regions of vice, when it moves 
blindly and without control ] Or do you perceive in this 
constitution a glorious liberty — yet the liberty only of moral 
beings, happy when they follow virtue, and miserable when 
they lapse into sin ! In teaching you that every action of 
your lives has a consequence of good or evil annexed to it, 
according as it harmonizes with, or is in opposition to, the 
laws of God, do I promise impunity to vice, and thereby 
give a loose rein to the impetuosity of passion — or do I set 
up around the youthful mind a hedge and circumvallation, 
within which it finds itself in light, and liberty, and joy ; 
but beyond which lie sin and inevitable suffering, weeping, 
wailing, and ghashing of teeth? Let tke tree, I say, be 
known by its fruits. Look to heaven, and see if the doc- 
trines which I teach have circumscribed or darkened the 
attributes of the Supreme ; then turn your contemplation 
inward, and see whether they have degraded or exalted, 
chilled or inspired with humble confidence and hope, the 
soul which God has given you ; and by your verdict pro- 
nounced after this consideration, let the fate of the doctrines 
be sealed. In teaching them, be it repeated, I consider 



DUTIES OF MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 83 

myself to be discharging a moral duty ; and no frown of 
men will tempt me to shrink from proceeding in such a 
course. If my exposition of the Divine government be true, 
it is a noble vocation to proclaim it to the world ; for the 
knowledge of it must be fraught with blessings and enjoy- 
ment to man. It would be a cold heart and a coward soul, 
that, with such convictions, would fear the face of clay ; 
and only a demonstration of my being in error, or the hand 
of the destroyer Death, shall arrest my course in proclaim- 
ing every portion of my knowledge which promises to aug- 
ment the virtue and happiness of mankind. If you partici- 
pate in these sentiments, let us advance and fear not — 
encouraged by the assurance, that if this doctrine be of 
man it will come to nought, but that if it be of God r no 
human authority can prevail against it ! 



LECTURE IV. 

PRESERVING BODILY AND MENTAL HEALTH, A MORAL DUTY . 
AMUSEMENTS. 

The preservation of health is a moral duty — Causes of bad 
health are to be found in infringement of the organic laws — 
All the bodily organs must be preserved in proportionate 
vigour — The pleasures attending high health are refined and 
quite distinct from sensual pleasures — The habits of the 
lower animals are instructive to man in regard to health — 
Labour is indispensable to health — Fatal consequences of 
continued, although slight, infractions of the organic laws — 
Amusements necessary to health, and therefore not sinful— 
We have received faculties of Time, Tune, Ideality, Imita- 
tion, and Wit, calculated to invent and practise amusements 
— Their uses and abuses stated — Error of religious persons 
who condemn instead of purifying and improving public 
amusements. 

The next duty of man, as an individual, is to apply his 
knowledge in preserving himself in health, bodily and men- 
tal. Without health he is unfit for the successful discharge 
of his duties. It is so advantageous and agreeable to enjoy 
sound health, that many persons will exclaim, " No prophet 
is needed to inform us that it is our duty and our interest 
sedulously to guard it ;" but many who treat thus lightly the 
general injunction, are grievously deficient in practical 
knowledge how to carry it into effect. It is true that every 



84 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY/. 

man in his senses, takes care not to fall into the fire or walk 
into a pool of water ; but how many valuable lives are put 
in jeopardy by sitting in wet clothes, by overtasking the 
brain in study or in the cares of business, or by too frequent- 
ly repeated convivialities ! 

In tracing to their source the calamities which arise to 
families and individuals from bad health and untimely death, 
attended by deep laceration of their feelings and numerous 
privations, it is surprising how many of them may be disco- 
vered to arise from slight but long continued deviations from 
the dictates of the organic laws ; so slight that at first 
scarcely any injurious or even disagreeable result was ob- 
served, but which gradually augmented until the most ruin- 
ous consequences were produced. Perhaps the victim was 
an ardent student, and, under the impulse of a laudable 
ambition to excel in his profession, studied with so much in- 
tensity and for such long periods in succession, that he 
overtasked his brain, and ruined his bodily health. His 
parents and relations, equally ignorant with himself of the 
organic laws, were rejoiced in his diligence, and forming 
fond expectations of the brilliant future that must, in their 
estimation, await one so gifted in virtuous feeling, in intellect, 
and in industry ; when suddenly he was seized with fever, 
with inflammation, or with consumption, and in a few days 
or weeks he was carried to the tomb. The heart bleeds at 
the sight ; and the ways of Providence appear hard to be 
reconciled with our natural feelings and expectations ; yet 
when we trace the catastrophe backward to its first cause, 
it is discovered to have had no mysterious or vindictive ori- 
gin. The very habits w r hich appeared to the spectators so 
amiable, and calculated to lead to such excellent attainments, 
were practically erroneous, and there was not one link want- 
ing to complete the connexion between them and the catas- 
trophe which all so seriously lament. 

Another cause by which health and life are frequently 
destroyed, is occasional reckless conduct, pursued in igno- 
rance of the laws of the human constitution. Take as an 
example the following case, which I have elsewhere given : 
A young man in a public office, after many months of se- 
dentary occupation, went to the country on a shooting ex- 
pedition, where he exhausted himself by muscular exertion, 
of which his previous habits had rendered him little capable : 
he went to bed feverish, and perspired much during the 



PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 85 

night : next day he came to Edinburgh, unprotected by a 
great-coat, on the outside of a very early coach : his skin 
was chilled, the perspiration was checked, the blood received 
an undue determination to the interior vital organs, disease 
was excited in the lungs, and within a few weeks he was 
consigned to the grave. 

I received an interesting communication, in illustration 
of the topic which I am now discussing, from a medical 
gentleman well known in the literary world by his instructive 
publications. His letter was suggested by a perusal of the 
"Constitution of Man." "On four several occasions," 
says he, " I have nearly lost my life from infringing the 
organic laws. When a lad of fifteen, I brought on a brain 
fever, (from excessive study,) which nearly killed me ; at the 
age of nineteen I had an attack of peritonitis, (inflammation 
of the lining membrane of the abdomen,) occasioned by vio- 
lent efforts in wrestling and leaping ; and while in France, 
nine years ago, I was laid up with pneumonia, (inflammation 
of the lungs,) brought on by dissecting in the great galleries 
of La Pitie with my coat and hat off in the month of Decem- 
ber, the windows next to me being constantly open ; and 
in 1829 I had a dreadful fever, occasioned by walking home 
from a party, at which I had been dancing, in an exceeding- 
ly cold morning, without a cloak or great-coat. I was for 
four months on my back, and did not recover perfectly for 
more than eighteen months. All these evils were entirely 
of my own creating, and arose from a foolish violation of 
laws which every sensible man ought to observe and regu- 
late himself by. Indeed I have always thought — and your 
book confirms me more fully in the sentiment — that, by pro- 
per attention, crime and disease and misery of every sort, 
could, in a much greater measure than is generally believed, 
be banished from the earth, and that the true method of 
doing so is to instruct people in the laws which govern their 
own frame."* 

The great requisite of health is the preservation of all 
the leading organs of the body in a condition of regular and 
proportionate activity ; to allow none to become too languid, 
and none too active. The result of this harmonious activity 
is a pleasing consciousness of existence, experienced when 

* The author of this letter was Dr. Robert Macnish ; and 1 
regret to say, that since it was written he has fallen a victim 
to another attack of fever. 

8 



86 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY, 

the mind is withdrawn from all exciting objects and turned 
inward on its own feelings. A philosophical friend once 
remarked to me, that he never considered himself to be in 
complete health, except when he was able to place his feet 
firmly on the turf, his hands hanging carelessly by his sides, 
and his eyes wandering over space, and thus circumstanced, 
to feel such agreeable sensations arising in his mere bodily 
frame, that he could raise his mind to heaven, and thank God 
that he was a living man. This description of the quiet, 
pleasing enjoyment which accompanies complete health, 
appears to me to be admirable. It can hardly be doubted 
that the Creator intended that the mere play of our bodily 
organs should yield us pleasure. It is probable that this is 
the chief gratification enjoyed by the inferior animals ; and 
although we have received the high gift of reason, it does 
not necessarily follow that we should be deprived of the 
delights which our organic nature is fairly calculated to 
afford. How different is the enjoyment which I have de- 
scribed, arising from the temperate, active, harmonious play 
of every bodily function — from sensual pleasure, which results 
from the abuse of a few of our bodily appetites, and is fol- 
lowed by lasting pain ; and yet so perverted are human 
notions, in consequence of ignorance and vicious habits, 
that thousands attach no idea to the phrase bodily pleasure, 
but sensual indulgence. The pleasurable feelings spring- 
ing from health are delicate and refined ; they are the 
reward and the supports of virtue, and altogether incompati- 
ble with vicious gratification of the appetites. I am afraid 
that so widely do the habits of civilized life depart from the 
standards of nature, that this enjoyment is known, in its full 
exquisiteness, to comparatively few. Too many of us, when 
we direct our attention to our bodily sensations, experience, 
instead of it, only feelings of discomfort, anxiety, and dis- 
content, which make us fly to an external pursuit, that we 
may escape from ourselves. This undefined uneasiness is 
the result of slight, but extensive derangement of the vital 
functions, and is the prelude of future disease. The causes 
of these uneasy feelings may be traced in our erroneous 
habits, occupations, and physical condition ; and until society 
shall become so enlightened as to adopt extensive improve- 
ments in all these particulars, there is no prospect of their 
termination. 
It is instructive to compare with our own, the modes of 



PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 87 

life of the lower animals, whose actions and habits are direct- 
ly prompted and regulated by the Creator, by means of their 
instincts ; because, in all circumstances in which our con- 
stitution closely resembles theirs, their conduct is really a 
lesson read to us by the Allwise himself. If, then, we sur- 
vey them attentively, we shall discover that the greatest care 
has been taken to prompt them to a course of action that 
shall produce this harmonious activity in all their vital organs, 
and thus ensure their possession of health. Animals in a 
state of nature are remarkably cleanly in their habits. You 
must have observed the feathered tribes dressing their plu- 
mage and washing themselves in the brooks. The domestic 
cat is most careful to preserve a clean, sleek, shining skin ; 
the dog rolls himself on grass or straw ; and you will see 
the horse, when grazing, do the same, if he has not enjoyed 
the luxury of being well curried. The sow, although our 
standard of comparison for dirt, is not deserving of this 
character. It is invariably clean, wherever it is possible for 
it to be so ; and its bad reputation arises from its master 
leaving it no sphere of existence except dunghills and other 
receptacles of filth. In a stable-yard where there is abun- 
dance of clean straw, the sleeping-place of the sow is un- 
soiled, and it makes great efforts to preserve it in this 
condition. 

Again — you will find that in a state of nature there has 
been imposed on the inferior animals, in acquiring their 
food, a degree of labour, which amounts to regular exercise 
of their corporeal functions. And, lastly, their food has been 
so adjusted to their constitutions, that they are well nourish- 
ed, but very rarely rendered sick through surfeit, or the bad 
quality of what they eat. I speak always of animals in a 
state of nature. The domestic cow which has stood in a 
house for many months, when first turned into a clover field, 
is sometimes guilty of committing a surfeit ; but she would 
not do so if left on the hill-side, and allowed to pick up her 
food by assiduous exertion. The animals, I repeat, are im- 
pelled directly by the Creator to act in the manner now 
described ; and when we study their organization, and see 
what is necessary to preserve it in health and enjoyment, 
we cannot fail greatly to admire the wisdom and benevolence 
displayed in their habits and constitution. 

Man differs from the brutes in this — that instead of blind 
instincts, he is furnished with reason, which enables him to 



88 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 

study himself, the external world, and their mutual rela- 
tions ; and to pursue the conduct which these point out as 
beneficial. It is by examining the structure, modes of ac- 
tion, and objects, of the various parts of his constitution, 
that man discovers what his duties of performance and ab- 
stinence in regard to health really are. This proposition 
may be illustrated in the following manner : The skin has 
innumerable pores and serves as an outlet for the waste 
particles of the body. The quantity of noxious matter ex- 
creted through these pores in twenty-four hours is, on the 
very lowest estimate, about twenty-four ounces. If the 
passage of this matter be obstructed, so that it is retained 
in the body, the quality of the blood is deteriorated by its 
presence, and the general health, which greatly depends on 
the state of the blood, suffers. The nature of perspired 
matter is such, that it is apt, in consequence of the evapora- 
tion of its watery portion, to be condensed and clog the 
pores of the skin ; and hence the necessity for washing the 
surface frequently, so as to keep the pores open and allow 
the perspiration to be freely performed. The clothing, 
moreover, must be so porous and clean, as readily to absorb 
and allow a passage to the matter perspired, otherwise the 
same result ensues as from the impurity of the skin, namely, 
the obstruction of the process of perspiration. Nor is this 
all. The skin is an absorbing as well as an excreting organ, 
so that foreign substances in contact with it are sucked into 
its pores and introduced into the blood. When cleanliness 
is neglected, therefore, the evil consequence is twofold ; 
first, the pores, as we have seen, are clogged, and the per- 
spiration obstructed ; and, secondly, part of the noxious 
matter left on the skin or clothing, is absorbed into the sys- 
tem, where it produces hurtful effects. From such an ex- 
position of the structure and functions of the skin, the 
necessity for cleanliness of person and clothing becomes 
abundantly evident ; and the corresponding duty of cleanli- 
ness is more likely to be performed by those who know the 
preceding details, than by persons who are impelled to 
performance by bare injunctions. In some parts of the 
east ablution of the body is justly regarded as a duty of 
religion : but it needs not to be told how extensively this 
duty is neglected in our own country. When men become 
enlightened, a warm bath, once a week at least, will be con- 
sidered one of the necessaries of life : those who are in the 



PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 89 

habit of keeping their skin in a proper condition, by means 
of bathing and friction, will bear testimony to the increase 
of comfort and activity which is thus secured. 

I might, in like manner, describe the structure and modes 
of action of the bones, muscles, bloodvessels, nerves, and 
brain ; and demonstrate to you that the necessity of bodily 
and mental labour, of temperance, of attention to ventilation, 
clothing, and lodging, and of a great variety of other obser- 
vances, is written by the finger of God in the frame- work of 
our bodies. This, however, belongs to physiology ; and 
here I assume that you have studied and understand the 
leading facts of that subject. I limit myself to two obser- 
vations. First, Exercise of the bones and muscles is la- 
bour ; and labour, instead of being a curse to man, is a 
positive source of his well-being and enjoyment. It is only 
excessive labour that is painful ; and in a well ordered 
community there would be no necessity for such exertion 
as would be painful. Secondly, Exercise of the brain is 
mental activity, either intellectual, or moral, or animal, ac- 
cording to the faculties which we employ. Mental inac- 
tivity, therefore, implies inactivity of the brain ; and as the 
brain is the fountain of nervous energy to the whole system, 
the punishment of neglecting its exercise is great and severe 
— namely, feelings of lassitude, uneasiness, fear, and anxiety ; 
vague desires, sleepless nights, and a general consciousness 
of discomfort, with incapacity to escape from suffering ; all 
which poison life at its source and render it thoroughly 
miserable. Well regulated mental activity, combined with 
due bodily exercise, on the other hand, is rewarded with 
gay, joyous feelings, an inward alacrity to discharge all our 
duties, a good appetite, sound sleep, and a general con- 
sciousness of happiness that causes days and years to fleet 
away without leaving a trace of physical suffering behind. 

While moderate and proportionate exercise of all the 
bodily and mental functions is essential to health, it is 
equally indispensable to shun over-exertion and excessive 
mental excitement, if we desire to preserve this invaluable 
blessing. Owing to the constitution of British society, it 
is extremely difficult to avoid, in our habitual conduct, one 
or other of the extremes of indolence and over-exertion. 
Many persons, born to wealth, have few motives to exertion ; 
and such individuals, particularly females, often suffer grie- 
vously in their health and happiness from want of rational 
8* 



90 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 

pursuits, calculated to excite and exercise their bodies and 
minds. Others, again, who do not inherit riches from their 
ancestors, are tempted to overwork themselves in acquiring 
them ; an expensive style of living is so general as to be 
felt by many to be almost unavoidable ; and to support it, 
they labour so incessantly that almost no leisure remains for 
the cultivation of their moral and intellectual powers, and 
for that repose of mind, and exercise of body, which are 
indispensable to health. Hence arise indigestion and other 
diseases ; and many, even after they have succeeded in 
acquiring wealth, feel uncomfortable and discontented. 
How many of us, after beginning our labours long before 
the sun at this season dawns upon our city, find it difficult 
to snatch even this late hour, at which we now assemble, 
from our pressing and yet unfulfilled business engagements I 
The same state of society exists in the United States of 
America, and the same effects ensue. Dr. Caldwell, one of 
the ornaments of that country, in his work on Physical 
Education, introduces some excellent remarks on the ten- 
dency of the embroilment of party politics and religious 
differences to over-excite the brain and produce insanity, 
and also dyspepsia or indigestion, which, says he, is more 
nearly allied to insanity than is commonly supposed. " So 
true is this," he adds, " that the one is not unfrequently 
converted into the other, and often alternates with it. The 
lunatic is usually a dyspeptic during his lucid intervals ; 
and complaints, which begin in some form of gastric de- 
rangement, turn, in many instances, to madness. Nor is 
this all. In families where mental derangement is heredi- 
tary, the members who escape that complaint are more 
than usually obnoxious to dyspepsia. It may be added, 
that dyspeptics and lunatics are relieved by the same modes 
of treatment, and that their maladies are induced, for the 
most part, by the same causes." The passions of grief, 
jealousy, anger, and envy, impair the digestive power ; and 
dyspepsia is often cured by abandoning care and business, 
and giving rest to the brain. It is chiefly for this reason 
that a visit to a watering-place is so beneficial. The agita- 
tions of commercial speculation and too eager pursuit ot 
wealth, have the same effect with party politics and reli- 
gious controversy in over-exciting the brain ; and "hence, 
in all probability, the inordinate extent of insanity and indi- 
gestion in Britain, and still more in the United States." 



PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 91 

In opposition to these obvious dictates of reason, two 
objections are generally urged. The first is, that persons 
who are always taking care of their health, generally ruin 
it ; their heads are filled with hypochondriacal fancies and 
alarms, and they become habitual valetudinarians. The 
answer to this objection is, that all such persons are already 
valetudinarians before they begin to experience the anxiety 
about their health here described ; they are already nervous 
or dyspeptic, the victims of a morbid uneasiness of mind, 
which, for want of other objects, is at last directed toward 
the state of their health. They are essentially in the right, 
however, as to the main cause of their distress, for their 
anxiety certainly does proceed from disorder of their organic 
functions. Their chief error lies in this, that their care of 
health proceeds from an anxiety without knowledge, and 
leads to no beneficial result. They take quack medicines, 
or follow some foolish observances, instead of subjecting 
themselves patiently and perseveringly to a regimen in diet, 
and a regular course of exercise, amusement, and relaxation 
— the remedies dictated by the organic laws. This last 
procedure alone is what I call taking care of health ; and I 
have never seen any human being become an invalid or a 
hypochondriac from adopting it. On the contrary, I have 
known many individuals who, in consequence of this rational 
obedience to the organic laws, have ceased to suffer under 
the maladies which previously attacked them. 

The second objection is, that many persons live in sound 
health to a good old age, who never take any care of them- 
selves at all ; whence it is inferred that the safest plan is 
to follow their example and act on all occasions as impulse 
prompts, never doubting that our health, if we pursue this 
manly course, will take care of itself. In answer to this 
objection I observe, that constitutions differ widely in the 
amount of their native stamina, and consequently in the 
extent of tear and wear and bad treatment which they are 
able to sustain without being ruined ; and that for this 
reason, one individual may be comparatively little injured 
by a course of action which would prove fatal to another 
with a feebler natural frame. 

The grand principle of the philosophy which I am now 
teaching is, that the natural laws really admit of no excep- 
tions, and that specific causes, sufficient to account for the 
apparent exception, exist in every instance. Some of these 



92 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 

individuals may have enjoyed very robust constitutions, 
which it was difficult to subvert : others may have indulged 
in excesses only at intervals, passing an intermediate period 
in abstinence, and permitting the powers of nature to re- 
adjust themselves and recover their tone, before they com- 
mitted a new debauch ; while others may have led an 
extiemely active life, passing much of their time in the 
open air ; a mode of action which enables the constitution 
to withstand a greater extent of intemperance than it can 
resist with sedentary employment. But of one and all of 
these men we may safely affirm, that if they had obeyed 
the organic laws, they would have lived still longer and 
more happily than they did by infringing them : and in the 
course of my own observations, I have never seen an ex- 
ample of an individual who perseveringly proceeded in a 
course of intemperance, either sensual or 'mental — that is, 
who habitually overtasked his stomach or his brain — who 
did not permanently ruin his health, usefulness, and enjoy- 
ment ; I therefore cannot believe in the supposed excep- 
tions to the organic laws. 

One source of error on this subject may be traced to the 
widely prevailing ignorance which exists regarding the 
structure and functions of the body ; in consequence of 
which, danger is frequently present, although it may be 
unknown to those who thus unthinkingly expose themselves 
to its approach. If you have marked a party of young men 
proceeding in a boat on a pleasure-sail in the Frith of Forth, 
every one of whom is unacquainted with the currents, sand- 
banks, and rocks, visible and invisible, with which the Frith 
is studded, you may have seen them all gay, alert, full of 
fun and frolic ; and if the day was calm and the sea smooth, 
you may have observed them return in the evening well and 
happy, and altogether unconscious of the dangers to which 
their ignorance had exposed them. They may repeat the 
experiment, and succeed, by a fortunate combination of 
circumstances, again and again ; but how different would 
be the feelings of a prudent and experienced pilot, who 
knew every part of the channel, and who saw that on one 
day they had passed within three inches of a sunken rock, 
on which, if they had struck, their boat would have been 
smashed to pieces ; on another, had escaped by a few yards 
a dangerous sand-bank ; and on a third, had, with great 
difficulty, been able to extricate themselves from a current 



PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 93 

which was rapidly carrying them on a precipitous and rocky 
shore. The pilot's anxiety would probably be fully justified 
at length, by the upsetting of the boat in a squall, its de- 
struction in a mist, or its driving out to sea when the wind 
aided an adverse current. 

This is not an imaginary picture. In my own youth, I 
happened to form one of such an inconsiderate party. The 
wind rose on us, and all our strength applied to the oars 
scarcely sufficed to enable us to pull round a point of rock, 
on which the sea was beating with so much force, that, had 
we struck on it, our frail bark would never have withstood 
a second shock. Scarcely had we escaped this danger, 
when we ran right in the way of a heavy man-of-war's boat, 
scudding at the rate of ten miles an hour before the wind, 
and which would have run us down, but for the amazing 
promptitude of her crew, who in an instant extended twenty 
brawny arms over the side of their own boat, seized ours, 
and held it above the water by main force, till they were 
able to clear away by our stern. The adventure was ter- 
minated by our being picked up by a revenue cutter, and 
brought safely into Leith harbour at a late hour in the eve- 
ning. I have reflected since on the folly and presumptuous 
confidence of that excursion ; but I never was aware of the 
full extent of the danger, until, many years subsequently, I 
saw a regular chart of the Frith, in which the shoals, sunken 
rocks, and currents were conspicuously laid down for the 
direction of pilots who navigate these waters. 

Thus it is with rash, reckless, ignorant youth in regard 
to health. Each folly or indiscretion that, through some 
combination of fortunate circumstances, has been committed 
without immediate punishment, emboldens them to venture 
on greater irregularities, until, in an evil hour, they are 
caught in a violation of the organic laws that consigns them 
to the grave. Those who have become acquainted with 
the structure, functions, and laws of the vital organs, see 
the conduct of these blind adventurers on the ocean of life, 
in the same light that our youthful voyage appeared to me 
after I had become acquainted with the chart of the Frith. 
There is an unspeakable difference between a belief in 
safety founded only on utter ignorance of the existence of 
danger, and that which arises from a knowledge of all the 
sunken rocks and eddies in the stream, and from a practical 
pilot's skill in steering clear away from them all. The pilot 



94 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 

is as gay and joyous as they ; but his joy arises from as- 
surance of safety ; theirs from ignorance of danger. He is 
cheerful, yet always observant, cautious, and alert. They 
are happy, because they are unobservant and heedless. 
When danger comes, he shuns it by his skill, or meets and 
conquers it. They escape it by accident, or perish unwit- 
tingly in a moment. 

The last observation which I make on this head is, that, 
in regard to health, Nature may be said to allow us to run 
an account-current with her, in which many small trans- 
gressions seem at the time to be followed by no penalty, 
when, in fact, they are all charged to the debit side of the 
account, and, after the lapse of years, are summed up and 
closed by a fearful balance against the transgressor. Do 
any of you know individuals, who, for twenty years, have 
persevered in frequent feastings, who all that time have 
been constant diners out or diners at home, or the soul of 
convivial meetings, prolonged into far advanced hours of the 
morning, and who have resisted every warning and admo- 
nition from friends, and proceeded in the confident belief 
that neither their health nor strength was impaired by such 
a course 1 Nature kept an account-current with such men. 
She had, at first, placed a strong constitution and vigorous 
health to their credit, and they had drawn on it day by day, 
believing that, because she did not instantly strike the ba- 
lance against them and withdraw her blessing, she was 
keeping no note of their follies. But mark the close. At 
the end of twenty years, or less, you will find them dying 
of palsy, apoplexy, water in the chest, or some other dis- 
ease clearly referable to their protracted intemperance ; or, 
if they escape death, you will see them become walking 
shadows, the ghosts of their former selves — in short, the 
beacons set up by Nature to warn others that she does not 
in any instance permit her laws to be transgressed with 
impunity. If sedulous instruction in the laws of health 
would not assist the reason and moral and religious feelings 
of such persons to curb their appetites, and avoid these 
consequences, they must be reckless indeed. At least, 
until this shall have been tried and failed, we should never 
despair, nor consider their case and condition as beyond the 
reach of improvement. 

It must be allowed, however, that the dangers arising to 
health from improper social habits and arrangements, cannot 



PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 95 

be altogether avoided by the exertions of individuals acting 
singly in their separate spheres. I shall have occasion, 
hereafter, in explaining the social law, to point out that the 
great precept of Christianity (that we must love our neigh- 
bours as ourselves) is inscribed in every line of our con- 
stitution ; and that, in consequence, we must render our 
neighbours as moral, intelligent, and virtuous as ourselves, 
before we can reap the full reward even of our own know- 
ledge and attainments. As an example in point, I observe, 
that if there be among us any one merchant, manufacturer, 
or lawyer, who feels, in all its magnitude and intensity, the 
evil of an overstrained pursuit of wealth ; yet he cannot, 
with impunity, abridge his hours of toil, unless he can in- 
duce his rivals to do so also. If they persevere, they will 
outstrip him in the race of competition and impair his for- 
tune. We must, therefore, produce a general conviction 
among the constituent members of society, that Providence 
forbids that course of incessant action which obstructs the 
path of moral and intellectual improvement, and leads to 
mental anxiety and corporal suffering, and induce them, by 
a simultaneous movement, to apply an effectual remedy in 
a wiser and better distribution of the hours of labour, re- 
laxation, and enjoyment. Every one of us can testify, that 
this is possible, so far as the real, necessary, and advanta- 
geous business of the world is concerned ; for we perceive 
that, by a judicious arrangement of our time and our affairs, 
all necessary business may be compressed within many 
fewer hours than we now dedicate to that object, so as to 
allow us a reasonable space for mental cultivation, exercise, 
and amusement. I should consider eight hours a day an 
ample allowance of time for business and labour : this would 
allow us eight hours more for enjoyment, and eight for re- 
pose, a distribution that would cause life to flow more cheer- 
fully, agreeably, and successfully, than it can do under our 
present system of ceaseless competition and toil. 

It appears, then, from the foregoing considerations, that 
the study and observance of the laws of health is a moral 
duty ; this conduct being clearly revealed by our very con- 
stitution as the will of God, and being, moreover, necessary 
to the due discharge of all our other duties. We rarely 
hear from divines an exposition of the duty of preserving 
health, founded on our natural constitution ; because they 
confine themselves to what the Scriptures contain. The 



96 PRESERVING HEALTH A DUTY. 

Scriptures, in prescribing sobriety and temperance, modera- 
tion and activity, clearly coincide with the natural law on 
this subject : but we ought not to study the former to the 
exclusion of the latter ; for, by learning the structure, func- 
tions, and relations of the human body, we are rendered 
more fully aware of the excellence of the scriptural pre- 
cepts, and obtain new motives to observe them in our per- 
ception of the punishments by which, even in this world, 
the breach of them is visited. Why the exposition of the 
will of God, when strikingly written in the book of nature, 
should be neglected by divines, is explicable only by the 
fact, that when the present standards of theology were 
framed, that book was sealed and its contents were un- 
known. We cannot, therefore, justly blame our ancestors 
for the omission ; but it is not too much to hope that mo- 
dem divines may take courage and supply the deficiency. 
I believe that many of them are inclined to do so, but are 
afraid of giving offence to the people. By teaching the peo- 
ple to regard all natural institutions as divine, because the/ 
proceed from the Creator, this obstacle to improvement may, 
in time, be removed, and religion may be brought to lend 
her powerful aid in enforcing obedience to the natural laws. 
In my Introductory Lecture, I explained that Veneration, 
as well as the other moral sentiments, is merely a blind feel- 
ing, that needs to be directed by knowledge. In that lec- 
ture I alluded to the case of an English lady, who had all 
her life been taught to regard Christmas and Good Friday 
as holy, and who was greatly shocked at perceiving them, 
on her first arrival in Edinburgh, to be desecrated by ordi- 
nary business. Her Veneration had been trained to regard 
them as sanctified days ; and she could not immediately 
divest herself of pain at seeing them treated without any 
religious respect. I humbly propose, that in a sound edu- 
cation, the sentiment of Veneration should be directed to 
all that God has really instituted. If the structure and 
functions of the body were taught to youth, as God's work- 
manship, and the duties deducible from them were clearly 
enforced as his commands, the mind would feel it to be sin- 
ful to neglect or violate them ; and a great additional effi- 
cacy would thereby be given to our precepts of exercise, 
cleanliness, and temperance. Such instruction would come 
home to youth, enforced by the perceptions of the under- 
standing, and by the emotions of the moral sentiments • 



AMUSEMENTS A DUTY. 97 

and they would be practically confirmed by the experience 
of pleasure from observance, and pain from infringement 
of them. The young, in short, would be taught to trace 
their duty to its foundation in the will of God, to discover 
that it is addressed to them as rational beings : at the same 
time, they would learn that this is no vain philosophy ; for 
they would speedily discern the Creator's hand rewarding 
them for obedience, and punishing them for transgression. 
As closely connected with health, I proceed to consider 
the subject of amusements, regarding which much diffe- 
rence of opinion prevails. When we have no true philoso- 
phy of mind, this question becomes altogether inextricable ; 
because every individual disputant ascribes to human nature 
those tendencies, either to vice or virtue, which suit his 
favourite theory, and then he has no difficulty in proving 
that amusements either are, or are not, necessary and ad- 
vantageous to a being so constituted. Phrenology gives 
us a nrmer basis. As formerly remarked, man cannot make 
and unmake mental organs, nor vary their functions and 
laws of action to suit his different theories and views. 

I observe, then, that every mental organ, by frequent and 
long-continued action, becomes fatigued, just as the mus- 
cles of the leg and arm become weary by long-protracted 
exertion. Indeed, it cannot be conceived that the mind, 
except in consequence of the interposition of organs, is sus- 
ceptible of fatigue at all. We can comprehend that the 
vigour of the fibres of the organ of Tune may become ex- 
hausted by a constant repetition of the same kind of action, 
and demand repose ; while the idea of an immaterial spirit 
becoming weary is altogether inconceivable. 

From this law of our constitution, therefore, it is plain 
that variety of employment is necessary to our welfare, and 
was intended by the Creator. Hence he has given us a 
plurality of faculties, each having a separate organ, so that 
some may rest, while others are actively employed. Among 
these various faculties and organs, there are several which 
appear obviously destined to contribute to our amusement ; 
a circumstance which (as Addison has remarked) " suffi- 
ciently shows us that Providence did not design this world 
should be filled with murmurs and repinings, or that the 
heart of man should be involved in gloom and melancho- 
ly." We have received a faculty of the ludicrous, which, 
when active, prompts us to laugh and to excite laughter 
9 



y» AMUSEMENTS A DUTY. 

in others : We have received organs of Tune and Time, 
which inspire us with the desire, and give us the talent, 
to produce music. Our organs of voluntary motion are so 
connected with these organs, that when we hear gay and 
vivacious music played in well marked time, we instinc- 
tively desire to dance ; and when we survey the effect of 
dancing on our corporeal frame, we discover that it is ad- 
mirably calculated to promote the circulation of the blood 
and nervous influence all over the body, and thereby to 
strengthen the limbs, the heart, the lungs, and the brain ; 
in short, to invigorate the health, and to render the mind 
alert, cheerful, and happy. To such of my audience as have 
not studied anatomy and physiology, and who are ignorant 
of the functions of the brain, these propositions may ap- 
pear to be mere words or theories ; but to those who have 
made the structure, functions, relations, and adaptations of 
the various organs a subject of careful study and contempla- 
tion, I feel assured that they will appear in the light of truths. 
If such they are, our constitution proves that amusement 
has been kindly intended for us by the Creator, and that 
therefore, in itself, it must be not only harmless, but abso- 
lutely beneficial. 

In this/as in everything else, we must distinguish between 
the use and abuse of natural gifts. Because some young 
men neglect their graver duties through an excessive love of 
music, some parents denounce music altogether as danger- 
ous and pernicious to youth ; and because some young ladies 
think more earnestly about balls and operas than about their 
advancement in moral, intellectual, and religious attainments, 
there are parents who are equally disposed to proscribe 
dancing. But this is as irrational as if they should propose 
to prohibit eating because John or Helen had been guilty 
of a surfeit. These enjoyments in due season and degree 
are advantageous, and it is only sheer ignorance and im- 
patience that can prompt any one to propose their abolition. 

The organs of Intellect, combined with Secretiveness, 
Imitation, and Ideality, confer a talent for acting, or for 
representing by words, looks, gestures, and attitudes, the 
various emotions, passions, and ideas of the soul ; and these 
representations excite the faculties of the spectators into 
activity in a powerful and pleasing manner. Farther, the 
Creator has bestowed on us organs of Constructiveness, 
Form, Size, Locality, and Colouring, which, combined with 



AMUSEMENTS A DUTY. 99 

Imitation and Ideality, prompt us to represent objects in 
statuary or painting ; and these representations also speak 
directly to the mind of the beholder and fill it with delight- 
ful emotions. Here, then, we trace the origin of the stage 
and of the fine arts directly to nature. Again, I am forced 
to remark, that to those individuals who have not studied 
phrenology and seen evidence of the existence and functions 
of the organs here enumerated, this reference of the fine 
arts, and of the drama in particular, to nature, or, in other 
words, to the intention of the Creator, will appear unwar- 
ranted, perhaps irreverent or impious. To such persons I 
reply that, having satisfied myself by observation that the 
organs do exist, and that they produce the effects here de- 
scribed, I cannot avoid the conclusion in question ; and in 
support of it I may refer also to the existence of the stage, 
and to the delight of mankind, in all ages and all civilized 
countries, in its representations. 

If, therefore, the faculties which produce the love of the 
stage and the fine arts have been instituted by the Creator, 
we may rely on the inference that these have legitimate, 
improving, and exalting objects ; although, like our other 
gifts, they may be abused. The line of demarcation between 
their use and abuse may be distinguished by a moderate 
exercise of judgment. They are in themselves mere arts 
of representation and expression, a species of natural lan- 
guage, which may be made subservient to the gratification 
of the propensities, or of the moral and intellectual facul- 
ties. We may represent in statuary, on canvass, or on the 
stage, lascivious and immoral objects calculated to excite 
all the lower feelings of our nature ; and this is a disgrace- 
ful abuse : but we may also body forth scenes and objects 
calculated to excite, and by exciting to strengthen, the 
moral, religious, and intellectual powers, and to carry for- 
ward our whole being in the paths of virtue and improve- 
ment ; and this is the legitimate use of these gifts of God. 

The applications made of these powers, by particular 
nations or individuals, bear reference to their general men- 
tal condition. The ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed 
very immoral plays, and also fights of gladiators and com- 
bats of wild beasts, in which men and animals tore each 
other to pieces, and put each other to death. Such scenes 
were the direct stimulants of Amativeness, Combativeness, 
and Destructiveness, and proclaim to us more forcibly than 



100 AMUSEMENTS A DUTY. 

the pages of the most eloquent, veracious, and authentic 
historians, that these nations, with all their boasted refine- 
ment, were essentially barbarians, and that the moral senti- 
ments had not attained any important ascendency in the 
great mass of the people. In the days of Queen Elizabeth 
and Charles the Second* plays of a very indelicate character 
were listened to by the nobles and common people of Bri- 
tain, without the least expression of dissatisfaction : and this 
indicated a general grossness of feeling, and of manners, 
to be prevalent among them. Even in our own day we go 
to be spectators of plays of very imperfect morality and 
questionable delicacy ; and the same conclusion follows, 
that there still lurks among us no small portion of active 
animal propensity, and that the moral and intellectual facul- 
ties have not yet achieved the full conquest over our animal 
nature. But in these instances there is an evident pro- 
gression toward a more legitimate use of our native powers 
of amusement ; and I conclude from this fact, as well as 
from the powers having been bestowed by the Creator, that 
future generations will carry their applications to still higher 
and more useful objects. Nor is it too enthusiastic to hope, 
that some future Shakspeare, aided by the true philosophy 
of mind, and a good knowledge of the natural laws according 
to which good and evil are dispensed in the world, may yet 
teach and illustrate the philosophy of human life, with all 
the power and efficacy which lofty genius can impart ; and 
that a future Kemble or Siddons may proclaim such lessons 
in living speech and gestures to mankind. By looking for- 
ward to possibilities like these, we are enabled to form some 
notion of the legitimate objects for which a love of the stage 
was given, and of the improvement and delight of which it 
may yet be rendered the instrument. 

If there be any truth in the principles on which these 
remarks proceed, we cannot avoid lamenting that helpless 
(although well meaning and amiable) imbecility which, alarm 
ed at the abuses of amusements, decries them altogether. 
A few days ago, (December, 1835,) we saw an announce- 
ment in the public papers that the ladies directresses of the 
House of Industry of Edinburgh had declined to accept of 
money drawn at Mr Cooke's circus for the benefit of that 
charity, because it was against their principles to counte- 
nance public amusements. If I am warranted in saying 
that the Creator has constituted our minds and bodies to be 



AMUSEMENTS A DUTY. 101 

benefited by amusements, has given us faculties specially- 
destined to produce and enjoy amusement, and has assigned 
a sphere of use and abuse to these faculties as well as to 
all others ; it is clearly injudicious m the amiable, the virtu- 
ous, the charitable, and the religious — in persons meriting 
our warmest sympathy and respect — to place themselves in 
an attitude of hostility, and of open and indiscriminate de- 
nunciation, against amusements founded on the laws of our 
common nature. Instead of bringing all the weight of their 
moral and intellectual character to bear upon the improve- 
ment and beneficial application of these institutions, as it 
is obviously their duty both to God and to society to do, 
they fly from them as pestilential, and leave the direction 
of them exclusively to those whom they consider fitted only 
to abuse them. This is an example of piety and charity 
smitten with a moral paralysis through ignorance, and with 
a fatal cowardice through want of discipline. Tn urging you 
to " try all things," and to distinguish between the uses and 
abuses of every gift, my ambition is to give you courage to 
maintain virtue, as well as knowledge to distinguish it ; to 
render you bold in advocating what is right, and to induce 
you, while there is an inch of reason and morality left to 
rest upon, never to abandon the field, whether of duty, 
instruction, or amusement, to those whom you consider the 
enemies of human happiness and virtue. Let us correct all 
our institutions, but not utterly extinguish any that are 
founded in nature. 



LECTURE V. 

ON THE DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING, 

Origin of the domestic affections — Marriage, or connexion for 
life between the sexes, is natural to man — Ages at which 
marriage is proper— Near relations in blood should not marry 
— Influence of the constitution of the parents on the children 
— Phrenology, as an index to natural dispositions, may be 
used as an important guide in forming matrimonial connex- 
ions—Some means of discovering natural qualities prior to 
experience, is needed in forming such alliances, because 
after marriage experience comes too late. 
The previous lectures have been devoted to the duties 
incumbent on man strictly as an individual ; namely, the 
duties of acquiring knowledge and preserving his health. 
9* 



102 DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

My reason for thus limiting his individual duties is, that I 
consider man essentially as a social being, and that, with 
the exception of his duties to God, which we shall subse- 
quently consider, he has no duties, as an individual, beyond 
those I have mentioned, any more than a particular wheel 
of a watch has functions independently of performing its 
part in the general movements of the machine. I mean by 
this, that although man subsists and acts uniformly as an 
individual, yet his faculties bear reference to other beings as 
their objects, and show that his proper sphere of life and 
action is in the society of these beings. You could not 
conceive a bee, with its present instincts and powers of 
co-operation, to be happy if it were established in utter 
loneliness, the sole occupant of an extensive heath or 
flower-bespangled meadow. In such a situation it might 
have food in abundance, and scope of action for such of its 
faculties as related only to itself ; but its social instincts 
would be deprived of their objects and natural spheres of 
action. 

This observation is applicable also to man. His facul- 
ties bear reference to other beings, and show that in their 
society Nature has intended him to live and act. His duties 
as a member of the social body are now to be treated of ; and 
first, his duties as a domestic being. 

The domestic character of man is founded on, or arises 
from, the innate faculties of Amativeness, Philoprogenitive- 
ness, and Adhesiveness.* These give him a desire for a 
companion of a different sex, for children, and for the society 
of human beings in general. Marriage results from the 
combination of these three faculties with the moral senti- 
ments and intellect, and is thus a natural institution. 

Some persons conceive that marriage, or union for life, 
is a yoke imposed upon man by the ecclesiastical or civil 
law only. This idea is erroneous. Where the organs above 
enumerated are adequately and equally possessed, and the 
moral and intellectual faculties predominate, marriage is a 
natural institution. It prevailed among the ancient Greeks 
and Romans, and exists among the Chinese and many other 
nations who have not embraced either Judaism or Chris- 
tianity. Indeed marriage, or living in society for life, is not 
peculiar to man. The fox, martin, wild cat, mole, eagle, 

* Dr. Vimont says that there is a special organ, next to Philo 
progenitiveness, giving a desire for union for life. 



DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 103 

sparrow-hawk, pigeon, swan, nightingale, sparrow, swallow, 
and other creatures, unite in pairs for life.* After* the 
breeding season is past, they remain in union ; they make 
their expeditions together, and if they belong to animals 
which live in herds, the spouses remain always near each 
other. 

It is true that certain individuals find the marriage tie a 
restraint, and would prefer that it should be abolished ; also 
that some tribes of savages may be found, among whom it 
can scarcely be said to exist. But if we examine the heads 
of such individuals and tribes, we shall find that Amative- 
ness greatly predominates in size over Adhesiveness and 
the Moral Sentiments ; and such individuals are not proper 
standards by which human nature should be estimated. 
Viewing marriage as the result of man's constitution, we as- 
cribe to it a divine origin. It is a law written in our minds ; 
and, like all other divine institutions, it is supported by 
rewards and punishments peculiar to itself. The reward 
attached to it, is enjoyment of some of the purest and 
best pleasures of which our nature is susceptible ; and 
the punishment inflicted for inconstancy in it, is moral and 
physical degradation. 

Among the duties incumbent on the human race in rela- 
tion to marriage, one is, that the parties to it should not 
unite before a proper age. The civil law of Scotland allows 
females to marry at twelve, and males xat fourteen ; but the 
law of nature is widely different. The female frame does 
not, in general, arrive at its full vigour and perfection, in 
this climate, earlier than twenty-two, nor the male earlier 
than twenty-four to twenty-six. Before these ages, ma- 
turity of physical strength and of mental vigour is not, in 
general, attained, and the individuals, with particular excep- 
tions, are neither corporeally nor mentally prepared to be- 
come parents, or to discharge, v.ith advantage, the duties 
of heads of a domestic establishment. Their animal pro- 
pensities are strong, and their moral and intellectual or- 
gans have not yet attained their full development. Chil- 
dren born of such young parents are inferior in the size and 
quality of their brains, to children born of the same parents 
when arrived at maturity. Such children, having inferior 
brains, are inferior in dispositions and capacity. It is a 
common remark, that the eldest son of a rich family is gene- 
* Gall on the Functions of the Brain, vol. iii. p. 482. 



104 DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

rally not equal to his younger brothers in mental ability ; 
and this is ascribed to his having relied on his hereditary 
fortune for his subsistence, and not exerted himself in ob- 
taining education : but you will very generally find, in such 
cases, that the parents, or one of them, married in extreme 
youth, and that the eldest child inherits the imperfections 
of their immature condition. 

The statement of the evidence and consequences of this 
law belongs to physiology : here I can only remark, that if 
the Creator has prescribed ages, previous to which, mar- 
riage is punished by him with evil consequences, we are 
bound to pay deference to his enactments ; and that civil 
and ecclesiastical laws, when standing in opposition to his, 
are not only absurd, but mischievous. Conscience is misled 
by these erroneous human enactments ; for a girl of fifteen 
has no idea that she sins, if her marriage be authorized by 
the law and the church. In spite, however, of the sanction 
of acts of parliament and of clerical benedictions, the Crea- 
tor punishes seyerely if his laws be infringed. His punish- 
ments assume the following, among other forms : 

The parties, being young, ignorant, inexperienced, and 
actuated chiefly by passion, often make unfortunate selec- 
tions of partners, and entail lasting unhappiness on them- 
selves. 

They transmit imperfect constitutions and inferior dispo- 
sitions to their earliest born children. And 

They often involve themselves in pecuniary difficulties, 
in consequence of a sufficient provision not having been 
made before marriage. 

These punishments, being inflicted by the Creator, indi- 
cate that his law has been violated ; in other words, that 
marriage at a too early age is positively sinful. 

There ought not to be a very great disparity between the 
ages of the husband and wife. There is a physical and 
mental condition naturally attendant on each age, and per- 
sons whose organs are in corresponding conditions sym- 
pathize in their feelings, judgments, and pursuits, and there- 
fore form suitable companions for each other. When the 
ages are widely different, this sympathy is wanting, and the 
offspring also is injured. In such instances, it is generally 
the husband who transgresses ; old men are fond of marry- 
ing young women. The children of such unions often suffer 
grievously from the disparity. The late Dr. Robert Mac- 



DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 105 

nish, in a letter addressed to me, gives the following illus- 
tration of this remark : " I know," says he, " an old gen- 
tleman, who has been twice married. The children of his 
fiFst marriage are strong, active, healthy people, and their 
children are the same. The offspring of his second mar- 
riage are very inferior, especially in an intellectual point of 
view ; and the younger the children are, the more is this 
obvious. The girls are superior to the boys, both physically 
and intellectually. Indeed, their mother told me that she 
had great difficulty in rearing her sons, but none with her 
daughters. The gentleman himself, at the time of his se- 
cond marriage, was upward of sixty, and his wife about 
twenty-five. This shows very clearly that the boys have 
taken chiefly off the father and the daughters off the mother." 

Another natural law in regard to marriage is, that the 
parties should not be related to each other in blood. This 
law holds good in the transmission of all organized beings. 
Even vegetables are deteriorated, if the same stock be re- 
peatedly planted on the same ground. In the case of the 
lower animals, a continued disregard of this law is almost 
universally admitted to be detrimental, and human nature 
affords no exception to the rule. It is written in our or- 
ganization, and the consequences of its infringement may 
be discovered in the degeneracy, physical and mental, of 
many noble and royal families, who have long and systema- 
tically set it at defiance. Kings of Portugal and Spain, for 
instance, occasionally apply to the Pope for permission to 
marry their nieces. The Pope grants the dispensation ; 
and the marriage is celebrated with all the solemnities of 
religion. The blessing of heaven is invoked on the union. 

The real power of his Holiness, however, is here put to 
the test. He is successful in delivering the king from the 
censures of the church, and the offspring of the marriage 
from the civil consequences of illegitimacy ; but the Crea- 
tor yields not one jot or tittle of his law. The union is 
either altogether unfruitful, or children miserably consti- 
tuted in body, and imbecile in mind, are produced ; and this 
is the form in which the Divine displeasure is announced. 
The Creator, however, is not recognised by his Holiness, 
nor by priests in general, nor by ignorant kings, as govern- 
ing, by fixed laws, in the organic world. They proceed as 
if their own power were supreme. Even when they have 
tasted the bitter consequences of their folly, they are far 



106 DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

from recognising the cause of their sufferings. With much 
self-complacency, they resign themselves to the events, and 
seek consolation in religion. " The Lord giveth," say they, 
" and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the 
Lord ;" as if the Lord did not give men understanding, and 
impose on them the obligation of using it to discover his 
laws and obey them ; and as if there were no impiety in 
shutting their eyes against his laws, in pretending to dis- 
pense with them, and finally, when they are undergoing the 
punishment of such transgressions, in appealing to Him for 
consolation. 

It is curious to observe the enactments of legislators on 
this subject. According to the Levitical law, which we in 
this country have adopted, " marriage is prohibited between 
relations within three degrees of kindred, computing the 
generations through the common ancestor, and accounting 
affinity the same as consanguinity. Among the Athenians, 
brothers and sisters of the half-blood, if related by the 
father's side, might marry ; if by the mother's side, they 
were prohibited from marrying. The same custom," says 
Paley, " probably prevailed in Chaldea, for Sarah was Abra- 
ham's half-sister. * She is the daughter of my father,' says 
Abraham, ' but not of my mother ; and she became my wife.' 
Gen. xx. 12. The Roman law continued the prohibition 
without limits to the descendants of brothers or sisters."* 

Here we observe Athenian, Chaldean, and Roman legis- 
lators prohibiting or permitting certain acts, apparently ac- 
cording to the degree of light which had penetrated into 
their own understandings concerning their natural conse- 
quences. The real divine law is written in the structure 
and modes of action of our bodily and mental constitutions, 
and it prohibits the marriage of all blood-relations, diminish- 
ing the punishment, however, according as the remoteness 
from the common ancestor increases, but allowing mar- 
riages among relations by affinity, without any prohibition 
whatever. According to the law of Scotland, a man may 
marry his cousin-german, or his great niece, both of which 
connexions the law of nature declares to be inexpedient ; 
but he may not marry his deceased wife's sister, against 
which connexion Nature declares no penalty whatever. 
He might have married either sister at first without impro- 
priety, and there is no reason in nature, why he may not 
* Paley's Moral Philosophy, p. 228. 



DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 107 

marry them in succession, the one after the other has died. 
There may be other reasons of expediency for prohibiting 
this connexion, but I mean to say that the organic laws con- 
tain no denunciations against it. 

In Scotland the practice of full cousins marrying is not 
uncommon, and you will meet with examples of healthy 
families born of such unions ; and from these an argument 
is maintained against the existence of the natural law which 
we are now considering. But it is only when the parents 
have both had excellent constitutions that the children do 
not attract attention by their imperfections. The first alli- 
ance against the natural laws brings down the tone of the 
organs and functions, say one degree ; the second two de- 
grees, and the third three ; and the perseverance in trans- 
gression ends in glaring imperfections, or in extinction of 
the race. This is undeniable, and proves the reality of the 
law. The children of healthy cousins are not so favoura- 
bly organized as the children of the same parents, if mar- 
ried to equally healthy partners, not at all related in blood, 
would have been. If the cousins have themselves inherit- 
ed indifferent constitutions, the degeneracy is striking even 
in their children. We may err in interpreting Nature's 
laws, but if we do discover them in their full import and 
consequences, we never find exceptions to them. 

Another natural law relative to marriage is, that the par- 
ties should possess sound constitutions. The punishment 
for neglecting this law is, that the transgressors suffer pain 
and misery in their own persons, from bad health, perhaps 
become disagreeable companions to each other, feel them- 
selves unfit to discharge the duties of their condition, and 
transmit feeble constitutions to their children. They are 
also exposed to premature death ; and hence their children 
are liable to all the melancholy consequences of being left 
unprotected and unguided by parental experience and affec- 
tion, at a time when these are most needed. The natural 
law is, that a weak and imperfectly organized frame trans- 
mits one of a similar description to offspring ; and, the 
children inheriting weakness, are prone to fall into disease 
and die. Indeed, the transmission of various diseases, 
founded in physical imperfections, from parents to children, 
is a matter of universal notoriety ; thus, consumption, gout, 
scrofula, hydrocephalus, rheumatism, and insanity, are well 
known to descend from generation to generation. Strictly 



108 DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

speaking, it is not. disease which is transmitted, but organs 
of such imperfect structure, that the)' are unable to perform 
their functions properly, and so weak that they are easily 
put into a morbid condition by causes which sound organs 
could easily resist. 

This subject also belongs to physiology. I have treated 
of it in the Constitution of Man, and it is largely expound- 
ed by Dr. A. Combe, in his work on physiology, and by 
many other authors. I trouble you only with the following 
illustrations which were transmitted to me by Dr. Macnish, 
who was induced to communicate them by a perusal of the 
Constitution of Man : "If your work," says he, "has no 
other effect than that of turning attention to the laws which 
regulate marriage and transmission of qualities, it will have 
done a vast service ; for on no point are such grievous er- 
rors committed. I often see, in my own practice, the most 
lamentable consequences resulting from neglect of these 
laws. There are certain families which I attend, where 
the constitutions of both parents are bad, and where, when 
anything happens to the children, it is almost impossible to 
cure them. An inflamed gland, a common cold hangs about 
them for months, and almost defies removal. In other fa- 
milies, w r here the parents are strong and healthy, the chil- 
dren are easily cured of almost any complaint. I know a 
gentleman, aged about fifty, the only survivor of a family 
of six sons and three daughters, all of whom, with the ex- 
ception of himself, died young, of pulmonary consumption. 
He is a little man, with a narrow chest, and married a lady 
of a delicate constitution and bad lungs. She is a tall, 
spare woman, with a chest still more deficient th?n his own. 
They have had a large family, all of whom die off regularly 
as they reach manhood and womanhood, in consequence of 
affections of the lungs In the year 1833, two sons and a 
daughter died within a period of ten months. Two still 
survive, but they are both delicate, and there can be no 
doubt, that, as they arrive at maturity, they will follow the 
rest. This is a most striking instance of punishment under 
the organic laws." 

As to the transmission of mental qualities, I observe, 
that form, size r and quality of brain descend, like those of 
other parts of the. body, from parents to children : and that 
hence dispositions" and talents, which depend upon the con- 
dition of the brain, are transmitted also — a fact which has 



DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 109 

long been remarked, both by medical authors and by obser- 
vant men in general. 

The constitution of the mother seems to exercise the 
chief influence in determining the qualities of the children, 
particularly where she is a woman possessing a fine tempe- 
rament, a well organized brain, and in consequence an en- 
ergetic mind. There is perhaps hardly an instance of a 
man of distinguished vigour and activity of mind, whose 
mother did not possess a considerable amount of the same 
endowments ; and the fact of eminent men having so fre- 
quently children far inferior to themselves, is explicable by 
the circumstance, that men of talent often marry women 
whose minds are comparatively weak. "When the mother's 
brain is very defective, the minds of the children are fee- 
ble. " We know," says the great German physiologist 
Haller, " a very remarkable instance of two noble females 
who got husbands on account of their wealth, although they 
were nearly idiots, and from whom this mental defect has 
extended for a century into several families, so that some 
of all their descendants still continue idiots in the fourth and 
even in the fifth generation."* In many families, the qua- 
lities of both father and mother are seen blended in the 
children. " In my own case," says a medical friend, " I 
can trace a very marked combination of the qualities of 
both parents. My father is a large-chested, strong, healthy 
man, with a large, but not active, brain ; my mother was a 
spare, thin woman, with a high nervous temperament, a 
rather delicate frame, and a mind of uncommon activity. 
Her brain I should suppose to have been of moderate size. 
I often think that to the father I am indebted for a strong 
frame and the enjoyment of excellent health, and to the 
mother for activity of mind and excessive fondness for ex- 
ertion." Finally, it often happens that the mental qualities 
of the father are transmitted to some of the children, and 
those of the mother to others. 

It is pleasing to observe, that, in Wurtemberg, there are 
two excellent laws calculated to improve the moral and 
physical condition of the people, and which other states 
would do well to adopt. First, 4t It is illegal for any young 
man to marry before he is twenty-five, or any young woman 
before she is eighteen." Here the human legislator pays 
much more deference to the Divine Lawgiver, than he does 
* Elem. Physiol. Lib. xxix., Sec. 2, § 8. 
10 



110 DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

in our country. Secondly, " A young man, at whatever 
age he wishes to marry, must show to the police and the 
priest of the commune where he resides, that he is able, 
and has the prospect, to provide for a wife and family." 
This also is extremely judicious. 

Another natural law in regard to marriage is, that the 
mental qualities and the physical constitutions of the parties 
should be adapted to each other. If their tastes, talents, and 
general habits harmonize, the reward is domestic felicity, 
the greatest enjoyment of life. If these differ so widely as 
to cause jarring and collision, what ought to be the palace 
of peace and the mansion of the softest affections of our 
nature, becomes a theatre of war ; and of all states of hos- 
tility, that between husband and wife is the most intermi- 
nable and incurable, because the combatants live constantly 
together, and have all things in common. 

The importance of this law becomes more striking when 
we attend to the fact, that, by ill assortment, not only are 
the parties themselves rendered unhappy, but their immoral 
condition directly affects the dispositions of their children. 
It is a natural law in regard to marriage, that the effects 
even of temporary departures from the organic laws descend 
to offspring produced during that state, and greatly injure 
their constitution. Thus — children produced under the in- 
fluence of inebriety, appear to receive an organization which 
renders them liable to a craving appetite for stimulating 
fluids. Children produced when the parents are depressed 
with misfortune and suffering under severe nervous debility, 
are liable to be easily affected by events calculated to induce 
a similar depression ; children produced when the parents 
are under violent excitement of passion, inherit a constitu- 
tion that renders them more liable to exhibit the same ten- 
dency : and hence, also, children produced when the parents 
are happy, moral, and under the excitement of the higher 
sentiments and intellect, inherit qualities of body and brain 
that render them naturally disposed to corresponding states 
of mind. I have stated various facts and authorities in sup- 
port of these views in the " Constitution of Man," to which 
I refer. These phenomena are the result of the transmission 
to the children of the mental organs modi6ed in size, com- 
bination, and condition, by the temporary condition of the 
parents. This law is subject to modifications from the in- 
fluence of the hereditary qualities of the parents, but its real 
existence con hardly be doubted. 



DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. Ill 

In my second lecture I laid down the principle that man's 
Srst duty as an individual is, to acquire knowledge of him- 
self, of external nature, and of the will of God ; and I beg 
your attention to the application of this knowledge when ac- 
quired. If these organic laws relative to marriage be really 
instituted by the Creator, and if reward and punishment be 
annexed to each of them, of what avail is it to know these 
facts abstractly, and to be aware that we have correspond- 
ing duties, unless we know those duties in detail, and are 
enabled to perform theml What we want is, such a 
knowledge of the human constitution as will carry home to 
the understanding and the conscience in youth the law of 
God, written in our frames, and its results. We want also 
the sanction of public sentiment, religion, and civil enact- 
ments, to enforce the observance of that law ; and training, 
to render the observance of it habitual. 

In regard to the original constitutions of individuals about 
to marry, the knowledge of this can be attained only by the 
study of the structure, functions, and laws of the body. If 
anatorry and physiology, and their practical application, 
formed branches of general education, we should be led to 
view this subject in all its importance, and, where our own 
skill was insufficient to direct us, we should call in higher 
experience. It is a general opinion that all such knowledge 
would be useless, because marriage is determined by fancy, 
liking, passion, interest, or similar considerations, but never 
by reason. Phrenology enables us to judge of the force of 
this objection. It shows that the impulses to marry come 
from the instinctive and energetic action of the three organs 
of the domestic affections. They are large, and come into 
vigorous activity in youth, and frequently communicate such 
an influence to the other mental powers, as to enlist them 
all for the time in their service. The operations of these 
faculties, when acting instinctively and blindly, are dignified 
with various poetic names, such as fancy, affection, love, 
and so forth. They are extremely interesting to young men 
and young women, and not a little mysterious ; which quality 
adds much to their charms with many minds. But phreno- 
logy, without robbing them of one jot of their real fascina- 
tions, dispels the mystery and illusions, and shows them to 
us as three strong impulses, which will act either confor- 
mably to reason, or without its guidance, according as the 
understanding and moral sentiments are enlightened or left 



112 DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

in the dark. It shows us, moreover, disappointment and 
misery, in every form, and at every stage, as the natural 
consequence of defective guidance ; while happiness of the 
most enduring and exalted description is the result of the 
wise and just direction of them. 

Believing, as I do, that the Creator has constituted man 
a rational being, 1 am prepared to maintain that the very 
converse of this objection is the true view of human nature 
— namely, that average men, \{ informed and trained, could 
not avoid giving effect to the natural laws in forming mar- 
riages. I say average men ; because phrenology reveals 
to us that some human beings are born with animal organs 
so large, and moral and intellectual organs so small, that 
they are the slaves of the propensities, and proof against the 
dictates of reason. These individuals, however, are not 
very numerous, and they are not average specimens of the 
race. If, therefore, before the organs of the domestic affec- 
tions come into full activity, the youth of both sexes were 
instructed in the laws of the Creater relative to marriage ; 
if the sanctions of religion were added to the obligation of 
these laws ; and if the opinions of society were directed to 
enforcing them ; I cannot conceive it possible that, in ave- 
rage men, the propensities would act in disregard of all these 
guides. The idea implies that man is not rational, and that 
the Creator has laid down laws for him which he is incapa- 
ble, under any natural guidance, of obeying. This is absurd 
and incredible. 

I have introduced these remarks, to prepare the way for 
the observation, that, before the discovery of phrenology, it 
was impossible to know well the mental dispositions and 
capacities of individuals prior to experience of them in 
actions, and that there was, therefore, a great difficulty in 
the way of selection, on sound principles, of partners really 
adapted to each other, and calculated to render each other 
happy in marriage. I know that a smile is sometimes ex- 
cited when it is said that phrenology puts it in the power of 
individuals to act rationally in this respect, who could not 
be certain of doing so without its aid ; but it is my firm con- 
viction that it does so. 

Not only is there nothing irrational in the idea that phre- 
nology gives the power of obtaining the requisite knowledge, 
but, on the contrary, there would be a glaring defect in the 
moral government of the world, if the Creator had not pro- 



DUTIES OP MAN A3 A DOMESTIC BEING. 113 

vided means by which human beings could ascertain, with 
reasonable certainty, the mental dispositions and qualities 
of each other, before entering into marriage. He has prompt- 
ed them, by the most powerful and fascinating of impulses, 
to form that connexion. He has withheld from them dis- 
criminating instincts, to enable them always to choose right ; 
and yet he has attached tremendous penalties to their errors 
in selection. If he have not provided some means, suited 
to the rational nature of man, to enable him to guide his 
impulses to proper objects, I cannot conceive how his govern- 
ment can be reconciled to Our notions of benevolence and 
justice. We must believe that he punishes us for not doing 
what he has denied us the capacity to do. 

It is well known, that no method of discovering, with 
reasonable success, the natural dispositions of human beings 
has hitherto existed. The general intercourse of society, 
such as is permitted to young persons of different sexes be- 
fore marriage, reveals, in the most imperfect manner, the 
real character ; and hence the bitter mortification and last- 
ing misery in whieh some prudent and anxious persons find 
themselves involved, after the blandishments of a first love 
have passed away, and when the inherent qualities of the 
minds of their partners begin to display themselves without 
disguise and restraint. The very fact that human affection 
continues in this most unhappy and unsuccessful condition, 
ought to lead us to the inference that there is some great 
principle relative to our mental constitution undiscovered, 
in which a remedy for these evils will be found. The fact 
that man is a rational creature — who must open up his own 
way to happiness by means of knowledge — ought to lead us, 
when misery is found to result from our conduct, to infer 
that we have been ignorant or reckless, and that we ought 
to seek new light, and take greater care in future. 

Far from its being incredible, therefore, that a method 
has actually been provided by the Creator, whereby the 
mental qualities of human beings may be discovered, this 
supposition appears to be directly warranted by every fact 
which we perceive, and every result which we experience, 
connected with his government of the world. If God has 
placed within our reach the means of avoiding unhappy mar- 
riages, and if we neglect to avail ourselves of his gift, then 
are we ourselves to blame for the evils we endure. I can- 
not too frequently remind you, that every fact, physical and 
10* 



114 DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

moral, with which we are acquainted, tends to show that 
man is comparatively a recent inhabitant of this globe ; that, 
as a race, he is yet in his infancy ; and that you ought no 
more to be astonished at new and valuable natural institu- 
tions, calculated to promote human enjoyment and virtue, 
evolving themselves from day to day to our understandings, 
than you are at the obviously increasing intelligence of an 
individual as he passes from childhood to youth, and from 
youth to manhood. 

I am equally at a loss to discover any reason why it should 
be thought to be absurd, that the means of discriminating 
natural qualities should be presented to us through the 
medium of the brain. Dr. Thomas Brown has justly re- 
marked, that " to those who have not sufficient elementary 
knowledge of science, to feel any interest in physical truths, 
as one connected system, and no habitual desire of explor- 
ing the various relations of new phenomena, many of the 
facts in nature, which have an appearance of incongruity as 
at first stated, do truly seem ludicrous." 

It has been positively ascertained by measurement, that 
a head not more than thirteen inches in horizontal circum- 
ference is invariably attended by idiocy, unless the frontal 
region be disproportionably large. Dr. Voisin, of Paris, 
lately made observations on the idiots under his care at the 
Hospital of Incurables in that city, and found the proposi- 
tion uniformly confirmed, and that, c&teris paribus, the 
larger the head was, the more distinctly were the mental 
powers displayed. 

It is worthy of remark, that — almost as if to show an in- 
tention that we should be guided by observation of the size 
and configuration of the brain — the cerebral development is 
in man extensively indicated during life by the external 
aspect of the head ; while among the lower animals, on the 
contrary, this is much less decidedly the case. In the hog, 
elephant, and others, the form and magnitude of the brain 
are not at all discoverable from the living head. The brutes 
have no need of that knowledge of each other's dispositions 
which is required by man ; divine instincts lead them into 
the proper path ; and, as it is probable that a different ar- 
rangement has not been adopted in regard to man without 
an object and a reason, subsequent generations may con- 
template it with different eyes' from those with which it has 
been regarded in our day. 



DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 115 

To illustrate the possibility of discriminating natural dis- 
positions and talents by means of observations of the head, 
I may be permitted to allude to my experience of the fact, 
and to refer particularly to my recent visit to the jail at New- 
castle. On the 28th of October, 1835, I visited that jail, 
along with Dr. George Fife (who is not a phrenologist) and 
nine other gentlemen. I examined the head of an individual 
criminal, and, before any account whatever was given, 
wrote down my own remarks. At the other side of the 
table, and at the same time, Dr. Fife wrote down an account 
of the character and conduct of the criminal, as disclosed 
by the judicial proceedings and the experience of the jailor. 
When both had finished, the writings were compared. It 
is sufficient to adduce three of the cases. 

" The first was a young man about twenty years of age, 
P. S. After stating the organs which predominated and 
those which were deficient in his brain, I wrote as follows : 
4 My inference is, that this boy is not accused of violence ; 
his dispositions are not ferocious, nor cruel, nor violent ; 
he has a talent for deception, and a desire for property not 
regulated by justice. His desires may have appeared in 
swindling or theft. It is most probable that he has swindled ; 
he has the combination which contributes to the talent of 
an actor.' The remarks which Dr. Fife wrote were the 
following : ' A confirmed thief : he has been twice convicted 
of theft. He has never showm brutality, but he has no sense 
of honesty. He has frequently attempted to impose on Dr. 
Fife ; he has considerable intellectual talent ; he has at- 
tended school, and is quick and apt ; he has a talent for 
imitation.' 

" The next criminal was also a young man, aged eighteen, 
T. S. I wrote : ' This boy is considerably different from 
the last. He is more violent in his dispositions ; he has 
probably been committed for an assault connected with 
women. He has also large Secretiveness and Acquisitive- 
ness, and may have stolen, although I think this less pro- 
bable. He has fair intellectual talents, and is an improvable 
subject.' Dr. Fife wrote : 4 Crime, rape. * * * No striking 
features in his general character ; mild disposition ; has 
never shown actual vice.' 

" The third criminal examined was an old man of seventy- 
three, J. W. The remarks which I wrote were these : 
• His moral dispositions generally are very defective ; but 



116 DUTIES OF MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 

he has much caution. I cannot specify the precise crime 
of which he has been convicted. Great deficiency in the 
moral organs is the characteristic feature, which leaves the 
lower propensities to act without control.' Dr. Fife wrote : 
'A thief; void of every principle of honesty; obstinate; 
insolent ; ungrateful for any kindness. In short, one of 
the most depraved characters with which I have ever been 
acquainted.' "* 

The two young men here described were rather well- 
looking and intelligent in their features, and if judged of 
simply by their appearance, would have been believed to be 
rather above than below the average youth of their own rank 
of life. Yet which of you will say, that if any relative of 
yours were to be addressed by men of the same dispositions, 
it would not be more advantageous to possess the means 
of discovering their real qualities, before marriage, and con- 
sequently to avoid them, than to find them out only by ex- 
perience ; in other words, after having become their victim 1 

I add another illustration. Upward of ten years ago, I 
met, for a short time, with an individual who was about to 
be married to a lady with whom I was acquainted. In 
writing this piece of news to a friend at a distance, I de- 
scribed the gentleman's development of brain, and dispo- 
sitions ; and expressed my regret that the lady had not 
made a more fortunate choice. My opinion was at vari- 
ance with the estimate of the lover made by the lady's 
friends from their own knowledge of him. He was respec- 
tably connected, reputed rich, and regarded as altogether a 
desirable match. The marriage took place. Time wheeled 
in its ceaseless course ; and at the end of about seven years, 
circumstances occurred of the most painful nature, which 
recalled my letter to the memory of the gentleman to whom 
it had been addressed. He had preserved it, and after 
comparing it with the subsequent occurrences, he told me 
that the description of the natural disposition coincided so 
perfectly with those which the events had developed, that 
it might have been supposed to have been written after 
they had happened. 

I cannot here enter into the limitations and conditions 

under which phrenology Should be used for this purpose ; 

such discussions belong to the general subject of that 

science. My sole aim now is to announce the possibility 

* Phrenological Journal. 



DUTIES OP MAN AS A DOMESTIC BEING. 117 

of its being thus applied. If yon will ask any lady who 
suffers under the daily calamity of a weak, ill-tempered, or 
incorrigibly rude and vulgar husband, and who, by studying 
phrenology, sees these imperfections written in large and 
legible characters in his brain, whether she considers that 
it would have been folly to have observed and given effect 
to these indications in avoiding marriage, her sinking and 
aching heart will answer, no ! She will pity the flippancy 
that would despise any counsel of prudence or treat with 
inattention any means of avoiding so great a calamity, and 
declare that, had she known the real character indicated by 
the head, she could not have consented to become the com- 
panion of such a man for life. In fact, we find that sensi- 
ble men and women in general do direct themselves in their 
matrimonial choice by the best knowledge which they pos- 
sess ; they avoid glaring bodily defects and openly bad 
characters ; and what is this but a complete recognition of 
the principle for which I am contending 1 My whole extra- 
vagance (if any of you consider me guilty of such) consists 
in proposing to put you in possession of the means of ob- 
taining more minute, accurate, and applicable knowledge, 
than is at present generally attained, in the belief that you 
will be disposed to act on that knowledge, as you show that 
you are anxious to do on that which has fallen already in 
your way. I am willing, therefore, to encounter all the 
ridicule which may be excited by these views, convinced 
that those laugh best who win, and that observance of them 
will render all winners, if they be founded, as I believe 
them to be, in the institutions of creation. 

I stand before you in a singular predicament. Lecturers 
on recognised science are hailed with rapturous encourage- 
ment, when they bring forward new truths ; and in propor- 
tion as these are practical and important, the higher is their 
reward. I appear, however, as the humble advocate of a 
science which is still so far from being universally admitted 
to be true, that the very idea of applying it practically in a 
department of human life, in which, hitherto, there has been 
no guide, appears to many to be ludicrous. It would be far 
more agreeable to me to devote my efforts to teaching you 
doctrines which you should all applaud, and which should 
carry home to your minds a feeling of respect for the judg- 
ment of your instruct er. But one obstacle prevents me 
from enjoying this advantage. I have been permitted to 



118 ON POLYGAMY. 

become acquainted with a great and, until lately, an un* 
known region of truth, which appears to my own mind to 
bear the strongest impress of a divine origin, and to be 
fraught with the greatest advantages to mankind ; and, as 
formerly stated, I feel it to be a positive moral duty to sub- 
mit it to your consideration. All I ask is, that you will 
meet the communication with the spirit and independence 
of free-minded men. Open your eyes that you may see, 
your ears that you may hear, and your understandings that 
you may comprehend ; and fear nothing. 



LECTURE VI. 



ON POLYGAMY : FIDELITY TO THE MARRIAGE VOW : DIVORCE * 
DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

Polygamy not founded in Nature — Fidelity to the marriage 
vow a natural institution— Divorce — Objections to the law 
of England on this subject — Circumstances in which divorce 
should be allowed- Duties of, parents — Mr. Malthus's law 
of population, and Mr. Sadler's objections to it, considered 
— Parents bound to provide for their children, and to preserve 
their health— Consequences of neglecting the laws of health. 

The remarks in my last lecture bore reference to the 
constitution of marriage. Moralists generally discuss also 
the questions of polygamy, fidelity to the marriage vow, and 
divorce. 

On the subject of polygamy I may remark, that it is 
generally admitted by statistical authorities that the propor- 
tions of the sexes born are, thirteen males to twelve females. 
From the greater hazards to which the male sex is exposed, 
this disparity is, in adult life, reduced to equality ; indeed, 
with our present manners, habits, and pursuits, the balance 
among adults, in almost all Europe, is turned the otheij way, 
the females of any given age above puberty preponderating 
over the males. In some eastern countries more females 
than males are born ; and it is said that this indicates a de- 
sign in nature, that there each male should have several 
wives. But there is reason to believe that the variation 
from the proportion of thirteen to twelve is the consequence 
of departures from the natural laws. In the appendix to 
the " Constitution of Man " I have quoted some curious 
observations in regard to the determination of the sexes, in 



FIDELITY TO THE MARRIAGE VOW. 119 

the lower animals ; from which it appears that inequality is 
the result of unequal strength and age in the parents. In 
our own country and race, it is observed, that when old men 
marry young females, the progeny are generally daughters ; 
and I infer that in the eastern countries alluded to, in which. 
an excess of females exists, the cause may be found in the 
superior vigour and youth of the females ; the practice of 
polygamy being confined to rich men, who enervate them- 
selves by every form of disobedience to the natural laws, 
and thereby become physically inferior to the females. 

The natural equality of the sexes, therefore, when the 
organic laws are duly observed, affords one strong indica- 
tion, that the Creator has not intended to institute poly- 
gamy ; and the same conclusion is strengthened by consi- 
dering the nature of the domestic affections. Harmonious 
gratmcationof the three faculties constituting the domestic 
group, in accordance with the moral sentiments and intel- 
lect, is necessarily attended with the greatest pleasure and 
the most advantageous results ; but this can be accom- 
plished only by the union of one male with one female. If 
the male have several wives, there is an excess of gratifica- 
tion provided for the cerebellum, and a diminution of grati- 
fication to Adhesiveness and Philoprogenitiveness ; for his 
attachment, diffused among a multitude of objects, can 
never glow with the intensity, nor act with the softness and 
purity, which inspire it when directed to one wife and her 
offspring. The females also, in a state of polygamy, must 
be deprived of gratification to their Self-Esteem and Ad- 
hesiveness, for none of them can claim an undivided love. 
There is injustice to the females, therefore, in the practice ; 
and no institution that is unjust can proceed from the Crea- 
tor. Farther, when we consider that in married life the 
pleasures derived from the domestic affections are unspeak- 
ably enhanced by the habitual play of the moral feelings, 
and that polygamy is fatal to the close sympathy, confidence, 
respect, and reciprocal devotion, which are the attendants 
of active moral sentiments — we shall be fully convinced that 
the Creator has not intended that men should unite them- 
selves to a plurality of wives. 

In regard to fidelity to the marriage vow, every argument 
tending to show that polygamy is forbidden by the natural 
law, goes to support the obligation of fidelity. As this point 
is one on which, fortunately, no difficulty or difference of 



120 DIVORCE. 

opinion, among rational persons, exists, I shall not dwell on 
it, but proceed to the subject of divorce. 

The law of England does not permit divorce in any cir- 
cumstances, or for any causes. A special act of the legis- 
lature must be obtained in that country to annul a marriage, 
which rule of course limits the privilege to the rich ; and 
we may, therefore, fairly say that the law denies divorce 
to the great majority of the people. The law of Scotland 
permits divorce on account of infidelity to the marriage vow, 
and also on account of non-adherence, as it is called, or wil- 
ful desertion, by the husband, of his wife's society for a 
period of four successive years, The law of Moses per- 
mitted the Jewish husband to put away his wife ; and, under 
Napoleon, the French law permitted married persons to dis- 
solve their marriage by consent, after giving one year's 
judicial notice of their intention, and making suitable pro- 
visions for their children. The New Testament confines 
divorce to the single case of infidelity in the wife. 

The question now occurs — What does the law of nature, 
written on our constitutions, enact 1 

The first fact that presents itself to our consideration 
is, that, in persons of well-constituted minds, nature not 
only institutes marriage, but makes it indissoluble except 
by death : even those lower animals which live in pairs 
exemplify permanent connexion. In regard to man, I re- 
mark, that where the three organs of the domestic affections 
bear a just proportion to each other, and where the moral 
and intellectual organs are favourably developed and culti- 
vated, there is not only no desire on either side to bring the 
marriage tie to an end, but the utmost repugnance to do so. 
The deep despondency which changes into one unbroken 
expression of grief and desolation, the whole aspect even 
of the most determined and energetic men, when thev lose 
by death the cherished partners of their lives ; and that 
breaking down of the spirit, profoundly felt, although meekly 
and resignedly borne, which the widow indicates when her 
stay and delight is removed from her for ever ; proclaim, 
in language too touching and forcible to be misunderstood, 
that, where the marriage union is formed according to na- 
ture's laws, no civil enactments are needed to render it in- 
dissoluble during life. It is clear that life-endurance is 
stamped upon it by the Creator, when he renders its con- 
tinuance so sweet, and its bursting asunder so indescribably 



D1V0KCE. 121 

painful. It is only where the minds of both or one of the 
parties are ill constituted, or where the union is otherwise 
unfortunate, that any desire for separation exists. The 
causes which may lead married individuals to desire to ter- 
minate their union may be briefly considered. 

1. If, in either of them, the cerebellum predominates 
greatly in size over Adhesiveness, Philoprogenitiveness, and 
the organs of the moral sentiments, there is a feeling of 
restraint in the marriage state, which is painful. 

To compel a virtuous and amiable partner to live in in- 
separable society with a person thus constituted, and to be 
the unwilling medium of transmitting immoral dispositions 
to children, appears directly contrary to the dictates of both 
benevolence and justice. Paley's argument against permit- 
ting dissolution of the marriage tie at the will of the hus- 
band is, that " new objects of desire would be continually 
sought after, if men could, at will, be released from their 
subsisting engagements. Supposing the husband to have 
once preferred his wife to all other women, the duration of 
this preference cannot be trusted to. Possession makes a 
great difference ; and there is no other security against the 
invitations of novelty, than the known impossibility of ob- 
taining the object." This argument is good, when applied 
to men with unfavourably balanced brains, viz., to those 
in whom the cerebellum predominates over the organs of 
Adhesiveness and the moral sentiments ; but it is unfound- 
ed as a general rule ; and the question is, whether it be 
desirable to deny absolutely, to the great body of the peo- 
ple, as the law of England does, all available means of dis- 
solving the connexion with such beings. It appears not to 
be so. The husband certainly ought not to have the power 
to dissolve the marriage tie at his pleasure ; but the French 
law seems more reasonable which permitted the parties to 
dissolve the marriage when both of them, after twelve 
months' deliberation, and after suitably providing for their 
children, desired to bring it to a close. 

The same argument applies to voluntary dissolution of 
marriage in cases of irreconcilable differences in temper and 
dispositions. " The law of nature," says Paley, " admits 
of divorce in favour of the injured party, in cases of adul- 
tery, of obstinate desertion, of attempts upon life, of out- 
rageous cruelty, of incurable madness,- and, perhaps, of 
personal imbecility; but bv no means indulges the same 
11 



122 DIVORCE. 

privileges to mere dislike, to opposition of humours, and in- 
clination, to -contrariety of taste and temper, to complaints 
of coldness, neglect, severity, peevishness, jealousy : not 
that these reasons are trivial, but because such objections 
may always be alleged, and are impossible by testimony to 
be ascertained ; so that to allow implicit credit to them, and 
to dissolve marriages whenever either party thought fit to 
pretend them, would lead in its effects to all the licen- 
tiousness of arbitrary divorces." "If a married pair, in 
actual and irreconcilable discord, complain that their happi- 
ness would be better consulted, by permitting them to de- 
termine a connexion which is become odious to both, it may 
be told them, that the same permission, as a general rule, 
would produce libertinism, dissension, and misery among 
thousands, who are now virtuous, and quiet, and happy, in 
their condition ; and it ought to satisfy them to reflect, that 
when their happiness is sacrificed to the operation of an 
unrelenting rule, it is sacrificed to the happiness of the 
community." 

If there be any truth in phrenology, this argument is a 
grand fallacy. iVctual and irreconcilable discord arises only 
from want of harmony in the natural dispositions of the 
parties, connected with differences in their cerebral organi- 
zations ; and agreement arises solely from the existence of 
such harmony. The natures of the parties in the one case 
differ irreconcilably ; but to maintain that if two persons of 
such discordant minds were permitted to separate, thousands 
of accordant minds would instantly fly off from each other 
in a like state of discord, is equally illogical as it would be 
to assert, that if the humane spectators of a street fight 
were to separate the combatants, they would forthwith be 
seized with the mania of fighting among themselves. 

In point of fact, the common arguments on this subject 
have been written in ignorance of the real elements of 
human nature, and are applicable only to particularly con- 
stituted individuals. Married persons may be divided into 
three classes : First, those whose dispositions naturally 
accord, and who, in consequence, are happy. Secondly, 
those in whom there are some feelings in harmony, but many 
in discord, and who are in the middle state between hap- 
piness and misery ; and thirdly, those between whose 
dispositions there is irreconcilable difference, and who are 
therefore altogether unhappy in each other's society. 



D1V0BCE. 123 

Paley's views, if applied to persons who are bordering 
en the middle line of liking and dislike toward each other, 
would be sound. To hold up to such persons extreme 
difficulty or impossibility of obtaining a dissolution of the 
marriage tie, will present them with motives to cultivate 
those feelings in which they agree ; while to present them 
with easy means of terminating it, will lead to reckless ag- 
gravation of their quarrels. But this is only one class, and 
their case does not exhaust the question. Where the union 
is really accordant in nature, the facility of undoing it will 
not alter its character, nor produce the desire to destroy 
the happiness which it engenders. Where it is irremedia- 
bly unsuitable and unhappy, the sacrifice of the parties will 
not mend their own condition ; and as the happy are safe 
in the attractions of a reciprocal affection, the only persons 
who can be said to be benefited by the example of the in- 
separability of the wretched, are the class of waverers to 
whom I have alluded. I humbly think that Nature has at- 
tached not a few penalties to the dissolution of the mar- 
riage tie, which may have some effect on this class ; and 
that these, aided by proper legal impediments to the ful- 
filment of their caprices, might render the restraints on them 
sufficient, without calling for the absolute sacrifice of their 
completely unhappy brethren for the supposed public good. 
Such a conclusion is greatly strengthened by the consi- 
deration that the dispositions of children are determined, in 
an important degree, by the predominant dispositions of the 
parents ; and that to prevent the separation of wretched 
couples, is to entail misery on the offspring, not only by the 
influence of example, but by the transmission to them of 
ill-constituted brains — the natural result of the organs of 
the lower feelings being maintained in a state of constant 
activity in their parents by dissension. 

The argument that an indissoluble marriage tie presents 
motives to the exercise of grave reflection before forming 
it, would be worthy of some consideration, if persons con- 
templating marriage possessed adequate means of rendering 
reflections successful ; but while the law permits marriage 
at ages when the parties are destitute of foresight, (in Scot- 
land at fourteen in males, and at twelve in females,) and 
while the system of moral and intellectual education pur- 
sued in this country furnishes scarcely one sound element 
of information by which to guide the judgment in its choice, 



124 DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

the argument is a mockery at once of reason and of human 
suffering. It appears to me that until mankind shall be in- 
structed in the views which I am now advocating, in so far 
as experience shall prove them to be sound, and shall be 
trained to venerate them as institutions of the divine will, 
and to practise them in their conduct, they will not possess 
adequate means of acting rationally and successfully in 
forming marriages. While so many sources of error en- 
compass them as at the present, they ought not to be de- 
prived of the possibility of escaping from the pit into which 
they may have inadvertently fallen ; and not only divorce 
for infidelity to the marriage vow, but dissolution of mar- 
riage by voluntary consent, under proper restrictions, and 
after due deliberation, ought to be permitted * 

Having now considered the general subject of marriage, 
I proceed to make some remarks on the duties of parents 
to their children. 

Their first duty is to transmit sound constitutions, bo- 
dily and mental, to their offspring ; and this can be done 
only by their possessing sound constitutions themselves, 
and living in habitual observance of the natural laws. Ha- 
ving already treated of this duty in discussing the constitu- 
tion of marriage, I need not here revert to it. It is of high 
importance ; because if great defects be inherent in chil- 
dren at birth, a life of suffering is entailed on them : The 
iniquities of the fathers are truly visited on the children, to 
the third and fourth generation, of those who hate God by 
disobeying his commandments written in their frames. It 
is sufficient here to condemn severely the selfishness of 

* The revised statutes of Massachusetts (chap. 76, sect. 5) 
permit divorce "for adultery," or defect "in either party, or 
when either of them is sentenced to confinement to hard labour 
in the state-prison, or in any jail or house of correction, for 
the term of life, or for seven years or more ; and no pardon 
granted to the party so sentenced, after a divorce for that 
cause, shall restore the party to his or her conjugal rights." 
This last is a just and humane provision ; for it is calculated 
for the relief of the innocent partner of a confirmed criminal. 
When will the law of England contain a similar enactment ? 
The class which makes the laws in Britain is not that which 
supplies criminals to jails or penal colonies, and it is often 
long before the mere dictates of humanity and justice prompt 
them to relieve an inferior order from an evil the pressure of 
which is not experienced by themselves. 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 125 

those who, for their own gratification, knowingly bring into 
the world beings by whom life cannot fail to be regarded as 
a burden. 

In the next place, parents are bound by the laws of na- 
ture to support, educate, and provide for the welfare and 
happiness of their children. The foundation of this duty 
is laid in the constitution of the mind. Philoprogenitive- 
ness, acting along with Benevolence, gives the impulse to 
its performance, and Veneration and Conscientiousness in- 
vest it with all the sanctions of moral and religious obliga- 
tion. When these faculties are adequately possessed, there 
is in parents a strong and never-slumbering desire to pro- 
mote the real advantage of their offspring ; and in such 
cases only intellectual enlightenment and pecuniary re- 
sources are wanting to ensure its complete fulfilment. 
Neglect of, or indifference to, this duty is the consequence 
of deficiency either in Philoprogenitiveness, in the moral 
organs, or in both ; and the conduct of individuals thus un- 
favourably constituted should not be charged against human 
nature in general. 

The views of Mr. Malthus on population may be adverted 
to in connexion with the duty of parents to support their 
family. Stated simply, they are these : — The productive 
powers of healthy, well-fed, well-lodged, and well-clothed 
human beings, are naturally so great, that fully two chil- 
dren will be born for every person who will die within a 
given time ; and as a generation lasts about thirty years, at 
the end of that period the population will of course be 
doubled ; in point of fact, in the circumstances here enu- 
merated, population is observed actually to double itself in 
twenty-five years. This rate of increase takes place in the 
newly-settled and healthy states of North America, inde- 
pendently of immigration. To become aware of the effects 
which this power of increase would produce in a country of 
circumscribed territory, like Britain, we need resort only to 
a very simple calculation. If, for example, Britain in 1800 
had contained twelve millions of inhabitants, and this rate of 
increase had taken place, the population in 1825 would 
have amounted to twenty-four millions ; in 1850 it would 
amount to forty-eight millions; in 1875 to ninety-six mil- 
lions ; in 1900 to one hundred ninety-two millions ; and in 
1925 to three hundred eighty- four millions ; and so on, 
always doubling every twenty -five years. Now Malthus 
11* 



126 DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

maintained that food cannot be made to increase in the 
same proportion ; we cannot extend the surface of Britain, 
for nature has fixed its limits ; and no skill nor labour will 
suffice to augment the productive powers of the soil in a 
ratio doubling every twenty-five years. He, therefore, drew 
the conclusion that the Creator intended that human beings 
(in the absence of adequate means of emigration, and of 
procuring food from foreign countries) should restrain their 
productive powers, by the exercise of their moral and intel- 
lectual faculties ; in other words, should not marry until 
they are in possession of sufficient means to maintain and 
educate a family ; and he added, that if this rule were 
generally infringed, and the practice of marrying early and 
exerting the powers of reproduction to their full extent be- 
came common, in a densely-peopled country, Providence 
would check the increase by premature deaths, resulting 
from misery and starvation. 

This doctrine has been loudly declaimed against ; but the 
question appears very simple. The domestic affections are 
powerful, and come early into play, apparently to afford a 
complete guaranty against extinction of the race ; but along 
with them we have received moral sentiments and intellect, 
bestowed for the evident purpose of guiding and restraining 
them, so as to lead them to their best and most permanent 
enjoyments. Now, what authority is there from nature for 
maintaining that these affections alone are entitled to eman- 
cipation from moral restraint and intellectual guidance ; and 
that they have a right to pursue their own gratification 
from the first moment of their energetic existence to the 
last, if only the marriage vow have been undertaken and be 
observed 1 I can see no foundation in reason for this view. 
From the imperfections of our moral education, we have 
been led to believe, that if the priest only solemnize a mar- 
riage, and the vow of fidelity be observed, there is no sin, 
although there may be imprudence or misfortune, in rearing 
a family for whom we are unable to provide. But if we 
believe in the natural laws, as institutions of the Creator, 
we shall be satisfied that there is great sin in such con- 
duct. We know that nature has given us strong desires 
for property, and has fired us with ambition, and with the 
love of splendour and of many other objects ; yet no rational 
person argues that these desires may, with propriety, be gra- 
tified whether we have the means of legitimately doing so or 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 127 

not. Why, then, should the domestic affections form an ex- 
ception to the universal rule of moral guidance and restraint ? 

Mr. Sadler, a writer on this subject, argues, that marriages 
naturally become less prolific according as the population 
becomes more dense, and that in this way the consequences 
predicted by Malthus are prevented. But this is trifling 
with the question ; for the very misery of which Malthus 
speaks, is the cause of the diminution in the rate of increase. 
This diminution may be owing either to few children being 
born, or to many dying early. Now, the causes why few 
children are born in densely peopled countries are easily 
traced ; some parents, finding subsistence difficult of attain- 
ment, practise moral restraint and marry late ; others are 
infirm in health, or oppressed with cares and troubles, 
whereby the fruitfulness of marriages is diminished — but 
these are instances of misery attending on a dense state of 
population. Again, it is certain that the mortality of chil- 
dren is in such circumstances unusually great, but the causes 
of this mortality also are closely connected with density of 
population. If the opponents of Malthus could -show that 
there is a law of nature by which the productiveness of 
marriages is diminished in proportion to the density of the 
population, without an increase of misery, they would com- 
pletely refute his doctrine. This, however, they cannot do. 
A healthy couple, who marry at a proper age, and live in 
comfort and plenty, are able to rear as numerous and vigo- 
rous a family in the county of Edinburgh, which is densely 
peopled, as in the thinly inhabited county of Ross. Mr. 
Malthus, therefore, does well in bringing the domestic affec- 
tions, equally with our other faculties, under the control of 
the moral and intellectual powers. 

A reflected light of the intentions of nature in regard to 
man, may frequently be obtained by observing the lower 
animals. Almost all the lower creatures have received 
powers of increasing their numbers far beyond the voids 
made by death in the form of natural decay. If we consider 
the enormous numbers of sheep, cattle, fowls, hares, and 
other creatures, in the prime of life, that are annually 
slaughtered for human sustenance, and recollect that the 
stock of those existing is never diminished, we shall per- 
ceive that, if every one of these animals which is produced 
were allowed to live, in a very few years a general desola- 
tion, through scarcity of food, would overtake them all. It 



128 DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

is intended that these creatures should be put to death and 
used as food. Now man, in so far as he is an organized 
being, closely resembles these creatures, and in the instincts 
in question he is constituted exactly as they are. But he 
has obtained the gift of reason, and instead of being intended 
to be thinnej. by the knife and violence, like the animals, he 
is invited to increase his means of subsistence by his skill 
and industry, and to restrain his domestic affections by his 
higher powers whenever he reaches the limits of his food. 
As the mental organs may be enlarged or diminished in 
the course of generations by habitual exercise or restraint, it 
is probable that, in a densely peopled and highly cultivated 
nation, the organs of the domestic affections may diminish 
in size and activity, and that a less painful effort may then 
suffice to restrain them than is at present necessary, when 
the world is obviously young, and capable of containing 
vastly more inhabitants than yet possess it. 

The next duty of parents is, to preserve the life and 
health of their children after birth, and to place them in 
circumstances calculated todevelope favourably their physi- 
cal and mental powers. It is inconceivable to what extent 
human ignorance and wickedness cause this duty to be ne- 
glected. " A hundred years ago," says Dr. A. Combe, 
" when the pauper infants of London were received and 
brought up in the workhouses, amid impure air, crowding, 
and want of proper food, not above one in twenty-four lived 
to be a year old ; so that out of 2S00 annually received into 
them, 2690 died. But when the conditions of health 
came to be a little better understood, and an act of parlia- 
ment was obtained obliging the parish officers to send the 
infants to nurse in the country, this frightful mortality was 
reduced to 450, instead of 2600!" In 1781, when the 
Dublin lying-in hospital was imperfectly ventilated, " every 
sixth child died within nine days after birth, of convulsive 
disease ; and after means of thorough ventilation had been 
adopted, the mortality of infants, within the same time, in 
five succeeding years, was reduced to nearly one in twenty." 
Even under private and maternal care the mortality of 
infants is extraordinary. " It appears, from the London 
bills of mortality, that between a fourth and a fifth of all the 
infants baptized die within the first two years of their ex- 
istence. This extraordinary result is not a part of the 
Creator's designs ; it does not occur in the case of the 



DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 129 

lower animals, and must therefore have causes capable of 
removal."* It is the punishment of gross ignorance and 
neglect of the organic laws. Before birth, the infant lives in 
a temperature of ninety-eight, being that of the mother : 
at birth it is suddenly ushered into the atmosphere of a cold 
climate ; and among the poorer classes through want, and 
among the richer through ignorance or inattention, it is 
often left very inadequately protected against the effects of 
this sudden change. In the earlier stages of infancy, im- 
proper food, deficient ventilation, deficient cleanliness, and 
want of general attention, consign many to the grave ; 
while in childhood and youth, great mischief to health and 
life are often occasioned by infringement of the organic 
laws. In a family which I knew in youth, two sons, of 
apparently promising constitutions, fell victims to consump- 
tion ; and both had slept during the years of youth in a 
very small bed-closet, with a window consisting of a single 
pane of glass, which was so near to the bed that it could 
never be opened with safety to their lungs during night. 
Breathing the atmosphere of so small an apartment for 
seven or eight hours in succession, directly tended to bring 
down the vigour of their respiatory organs, and to injure 
the tone of the whole system. The effect of this practice 
was to prepare the lungs to yield to the first unfavourable 
influence to which they might be exposed ; and accordingly, 
when such occurred, both fell victims to pulmonary disease. 
Similar cases are very abundant ; and the ignorance which 
is the root of the evil is the more fatal, because the errone- 
ous practices which undermine the constitution operate 
slowly and insidiously, and even after the results are seen, 
their causes are neither known nor suspected. For many 
years a lady known to me was troubled with frequent and 
severe headaches, which she was unable to get rid of ; but 
having been instructed in the functions of the lungs, the 
constitution of the atmosphere, and the bad effects of im- 
proper food and a sedentary life, she removed from the very 
confined bed-room which she had occupied for many years, 
to one that was large and airy, and began to take regular 
exercise in the open air, and to practise discrimination with 
respect to her food ; and since that time, nearly ten years 
ago, her general health has been vastly improved, and head- 
aches very seldom occur. 

* Physiology applied to Health and Education. 



130 DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

When you study this subject with a view to practice, 
you will find that the principles which I laid down in the 
fourth lecture, are of great importance as guides — namely, 
that each organ of the body has received a definite consti- 
tution, and that health is the result of the/harmonious and 
favourable action of them all. Hence, it is not sufficient 
to provide merely airy bed-rooms for children, if at the same 
time the means of cleanliness be neglected, or their brains 
be over-exerted in attending too many classes and learning 
too many tasks ; the delicate brain of youth demands fre- 
quent repose. In short, a real practical knowledge of the 
laws of the human constitution is highly conducive to the 
successful rearing of children ; and the heart-rending deso- 
lation of parents, when they see the dearest objects of their 
love successively torn from them by death, ought to be 
viewed as the chastisement of ignorance or negligence 
alone, and not as proofs of the world being constituted un- 
favourably for the production of human enjoyment. Pa- 
rents, however, ought not, in this matter, to look to their 
own happiness merely ; they are under solemn obligations 
to the children whom they have chosen to bring into the 
world. Improper treatment in infancy and childhood, at 
which period the body grows rapidly, is productive of effects 
far more prejudicial and permanent than at any subsequent 
age ;* and assuredly those parents are not guiltless who 
wilfully keep themselves in ignorance of the organic laws, 
or, knowing these, refrain from acting in accordance with 
them in the rearing of their children. The latter have a 
positive claim (which no parent of right feeling will disregard 
or deny) on those who have forced existence upon them, 
that they shall do all in their power to render it comfortable. 

Perhaps some may think that the importance of obedience 
to the organic laws has been insisted on more than the sub- 
ject required. Such an idea is natural enough, consider- 
ing that an exposition of these laws forms no part of or- 
dinary education, and that obedience to them is enjoined by 
no human authority. There is no trace of them in the 
statute-book, none in the catechisms issued by authority of 
the churdh ; and you rarely, if ever, hear thern mentioned 

* The principles which should guide parents in the treat- 
ment of children are stated and enforced in Dr. A. Combe's 
work on the the Physiological and Moral Treatment of In 
fancy. 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 131 

as laws of God, by his servants who teach his will from the 
pulpit. Nay, even the general tongue of society, which 
allows few subjects to escape remark, is silent with regard 
to them. Hence, it is probable that the importance of obey- 
ing the organic laws may to some appear to be over-estimated 
in these lectures. But the universal silence which prevails 
in society has its source in ignorance. Physiology is still 
unknown to nineteen-twentieths even of educated persons, 
and to the mass it is a complete terra incognita. Even by 
medical men it is little studied as a practical science, and 
the idea of its beneficial application as a guide to human 
conduct in general is only now beginning to engage their 
attention. If to all this we add, that, until phrenology was 
discovered, the dependence of mental talents and disposi- 
tions on cerebral developement was scarcely even suspected 
— and that belief in this truth is still far from being univer- 
sal — the silence which prevails with respect to the organic 
laws, and neglect of them in practice, will not seem unac- 
countable. 

On this subject I would observe, that there is a vast dif- 
ference between the uncertain and the unascertained. It 
is now universally admitted, that all the movements of mat- 
ter are regulated by laws ; and that they are never uncer- 
tain, although the laws which they observe may, in some 
instances, be unascertained. The revolutions of the planets 
can be predicted, while those of some of the comets are as 
yet unknown ; but no philosopher imagines that the latter 
are uncertain. The minutest drop of water that descends 
the mighty fall of Niagara is regulated in all its movements 
by definite laws, whether it rise in mist and float in the at- 
mosphere to distant regions, there to descend as rain ; or 
be absorbed by a neighbouring shrub, and reappear as an 
atom in a blossom adorning the Canadian shore ; or be 
drunk up by a living creature, and sent into the wonderful 
circuit of its blood ; or become a portion of an oak, which 
at a future time shall career on the ocean. Nothing can be 
less ascertained, or probably less ascertainable by mortal 
study, than the motions of such an atom ; but every philo- 
sopher will, without one moment's hesitation, concede that 
not one of them is uncertain.* The first element of a philo- 
sophic understanding, is the capacity of extending the same 

* I owe this forcible illustration to Dr, Chalmers, having first 
heard it in one of his lectures. 



132 DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

conviction to the events evolved in every department of 
nature. A man who sees disease occurring in youth or 
middle age, and whose mind is not capable of perceiving 
that it is the result of imperfect or excessive action in some 
vital organ, and that imperfect or excessive action is just 
another name for deviation from the proper healthy state of 
that organ, is not capable of reasoning. It may be true 
that, in many instances, our knowledge is so imperfect, that 
we are incapable of discovering the chain of connexion be- 
tween the disease and its organic cause ; but he is no phi- 
losopher who doubts the reality of the connexion. 

One reason of the obscurity that prevails on this subject 
in the mind of persons not medically educated, is ignorance 
of the structure and functions of the body ; and another is, 
that diseases appear under two very distinct forms — struc- 
tural and functional ; only the former of which is under- 
stood by common observers to constitute a proper malady. 
If an arrow be shot into the eye there is derangement of the 
structure, and the most determined opponent of the natural 
laws will at once admit the connexion between the blind- 
ness which ensues, and the lesion of the organ. But if a 
watchmaker or an optical instrument maker, by long-con- 
tinued and excessive exertion of the eye, have become 
blind, the disease is called functional ; the function, from 
being over-stimulated, is impaired, but frequently no altera- 
tion of structure can be perceived. No philosophic physio- 
logist, however, doubts that there is, in the structure, a 
change corresponding to the functional derangement, al- 
though human observation cannot detect it. He never says 
that it is nonsense to assert that the patient has become blind 
in consequence of infringement of the organic laws. It is 
one of these laws that the function of the eye shall be ex- 
ercised moderately, and it is a breach of that law to strain 
it to excess. 

The same principle applies to a great number of diseases 
occurring under the organic laws. Imperfections in the 
tone, structure, or proportion of certain organs, may exist 
at birth, so hidden by their situation, or so slight, as not 
to be readily perceptible, but not on that account the less 
real and important ; or deviations may be made gradually 
and imperceptibly from the proper and healthy exercise of 
the functions ; and from one or other cause, disease may 
invade the constitution. Religious persons terra disease 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 133 

occurring in this occult manner a dispensation of God's pro- 
vidence ; the careless name it an unaccountable event ; 
but the physician invariably views it as the result of imper- 
fect or excessive action of some organ or another, and he 
never doubts that it has been caused by deviations from the 
laws which the Creator has prescribed for the regulation of 
the animal economy. The objection that the doctrine of 
the organic laws which I have been inculcating is unsound, 
because diseases come and go, without uneducated persons 
being able to trace their causes, has not a shadow of philo- 
sophy to support it. I may err in my exposition of these 
laws, but I hope I do not err in stating that neither disease 
nor death, in early or middle life, can take place under the 
ordinary administrations of Providence, except when these 
laws have been infringed. 

My reason for insisting so largely on this subject, is a 
profound conviction of the importance of the organic laws. 
They are fundamental to happiness ; that is, the conse- 
quences of errors in regard to them cannot be compensated 
for, or removed by, any other means than obedience. I 
daily see melancholy results of inattention to their dictates. 
When you observe the husband, in youth or middle age, 
removed by death from the partner of his love and the other 
dear objects of his affections ; or when you see the mother 
at a similar age torn from her infant children, her heart 
bleeding at the thought of leaving them in the hand of the 
stranger while they most need her maternal care ; the cause 
of the calamity is either that the dying parent inherited a 
defective constitution in consequence of disobedience by 
his ancestors to the organic laws, or that he himself has in- 
fringed them grievously. If, therefore, we desire to diminish 
this class of calamities, we must study and obey the organic 
laws. As these laws operate independently of all others, 
we may manifest the piety of angels, and yet suffer if we 
neglect them. I repeat, then, that if there be any remedy 
on earth for this class of evils, it is obedience to the laws of 
our constitution, and this alone. 

Again, if we see the lovely infant snatched from the 
mother's bosom by the hand of death, while it caused every 
affection of her mind to thrill with joy, and fed her hopes 
with the fondest and brightest visions of its future talent, 
virtue, and success — let us trace the cause, and we shall 
find that the- organic laws have been infringed. If you see 
12 



134 DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN". 

an aged man walking with heavy steps, and deeply dejected 
mein, the nearest follower after a bier adorned with white-^ 
it is a father carrying to the grave his first-born son, the 
hope and stay of his life, torn from him in the full bloom of 
manhood, when already he had eased the hoary head of half 
its load of care. The cause of this scene also is infringe- 
ment of the organic laws. 

Or open the door of some family parlour, where we ex- 
pect to meet with peace and joy, blessing and endearment, 
as the natural accompaniments of domestic life, and see 
discord, passion, disappointment, and every feeling that 
imbitters existence, depicted on the countenances of the 
inmates. The cause is still infringement of the organic 
laws. Two persons have married whose brains differ so 
widely that there is not only no natural sympathy between 
them, but absolute contradiction in their dispositions. This 
discord might have been read in their brains before they 
were united for life. 

Look on another scene. You may observe several per- 
sons of each sex, in middle life, gravely sitting in anxious 
deliberation. They are the respectable members of a nu- 
merous family, holding consultation on the measures to be 
adopted in consequence of one of their number having be- 
come insane, or having given himself up irreclaimably to 
drunkenness, or to some worse species of immorality. 
Their feelings are deeply wounded, their understandings 
are perplexed, and they know not what to do. The cause 
is still the same : the unfortunate object of their solicitude 
has inherited an ill-constituted brain ; it has yielded to some 
exciting cause, and he has lost his reason ; or he has given 
way to a headlong appetite for intoxicating liquors, in con- 
sequence of one or other of his parents having laboured 
under a similiar influence at the commencement of his ex- 
istence ; and it has now become an actual disease. The 
organic laws have been infringed ; and this scene also is a 
form in which the Creator indicates to his creatures that his 
laws have been trangressed. If you make a catalogue of 
human miseries, and inquire how many of them spring 
directly or indirectly from infringement of the organic laws, 
you will be astonished at its extent. 

If, then, these laws be fundamental — if the consequences 
of disobeying them be so formidable, and if escape be so 
impossible, you will forgive the anxiety with which I have 



DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 135 

endeavoured to expound them. I might draw pictures the 
converse of all that I have here represented, and show you 
health, long life, happiness, and prosperity, as the rewards 
of obeying these and the other natural laws, and I should 
still be justified by philosophy ; but the principle, if admitted, 
will carry home these counter results to your own under- 
standings. I may farther remark, that all philosophy and 
theology which have been propounded by men ignorant of 
these laws, may be expected to be imperfect, and that there- 
fore we arrogate no undue superiority in refusing to yield 
the convictions of our own judgments to the dictates of their 
intellects, (however admirable in native vigour,) when they 
had no sound data on which to proceed. The events of 
human life, viewed through the medium of their principles, 
and of the philosophy which I am now expounding, must 
appear in very different lights. In their eyes many events 
appear inscrutable, which to us are clear. According to 
our view, an allwise and beneficent Creator has bestowed 
on us, the highest of his terrestrial creatures, the gift of 
reason, and has arranged the whole world as a theatre for 
its exercise. He has placed before us examples without 
number of his power, wisdom, and goodness, and left us to 
apply our faculties to study them and to act in harmony with 
them, and then to live and be happy, or to neglect them and 
to suffer. Each of you will approve of that system which 
appears to be founded in truth and to tend most to the 
glory of God. I ask no man to yield his conscience and 
his understanding to my opinions ; but only solicit liberty to 
announce what to myself appears to be true, that it may be 
received or rejected, according to its merits. 

In concluding, it is proper to add one observation. Man- 
kind have lived so long without becoming acquainted with 
the organic laws, and have, in consequence, so extensively 
transgressed them, that there are few individuals in civi- 
lized society who do not bear in their persons, to a greater 
or less extent, imperfections derived from this source. It 
is impossible, therefore, even for the most anxious disciples 
of the new doctrine, all at once to yield perfect obedience 
to these laws. If none were to marry in whose family 
stock, and in whose individual persons, any traces of serious 
departures from the organic laws were to be found, the 
civilized world would become a desert. The return to obe- 
dience must be gradual, and the accomplishment of it the 



136 DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

result of time. After these laws are unfolded to a man's 
discernment, he is not guiltless if he completely disregard 
them, and commit flagrant violations of their dictates. We 
are all bound, if we believe them to be instituted by God, 
to obey them as far as is in oar power ; but we cannot com- 
mand all external circumstances. We are bound to do the 
best we can ; and this, although not all that could be de- 
sired, is often much ; nor shall we ever miss an adequate 
reward, even for our imperfect obedience. 

It is deeply mysterious that man should have been so 
created, as to err for thousands of years through ignorance 
of his own constitution and the laws under which he suf- 
fers or enjoys ; but it is equally mysterious that the globe 
itself underwent the successive revolutions revealed by 
geology, destroying myriads of living creatures, and extin- 
guishing whole races of beings before man appeared ! It 
is equally mysterious, also, why the earth presents such 
striking inequalities of soil and* climate — in some regions so 
beautiful, so delightful, so prolific ; in others so dreary, 
steril, and depressing ! It is equally mysterious that man 
has been created a mortal creature, living, even at the best, 
but for a season on earth, and then yielding his place to a 
successor, whose tenure will be as brief as his own. These 
are mysteries which reason cannot penetrate, and for which 
fancy cannot account ; but they all relate, not to our con- 
duct here, but to the will of God our maker in the creation 
of the universe. Although we cannot unravel the counsels 
of the Omnipotent, this is no reason why we should not 
study and obey his laws. What he has presented to us in 
creation, we are bound to accept with gratitude at his hand 
as a gift ; but in using it, we are called on to exercise our 
reason, the noblest of his boons ; and we may rest assured, 
that no impenetrable darkness will hang over the path of 
our duty, when we shall have fairly opened our eyes and 
our understandings to the study of his works. There is no 
difficulty in believing that man, having received reason, was 
intended to use it — that, by neglecting to do so, he has suf- 
fered — and that, when he shall duly employ it, his miseries 
will diminish ; and this is all that I am now teaching. It 
is inexplicable why we should not earlier have gone into the 
road tnat leads to happiness ; but let us not hesitate to en- 
ter it now, if we see it fairly opened before us. 



137 



LECTURE VII. 

It is the duty of parents to educate their children — To be able 
to discharge this duty, parents themselves must be educated 
— Deficiency of education in Scotland — Means of supplying 
the deficiency — It is a duty to provide for children — Best 
•provision for children consists in a sound constitution, good 
moral and intellectual training, and instruction in useful 
knowledge — What distribution of the parent's fortune should 
be made ? — Rights of parents and duties of children— Obe- 
dience to parents — Parents bound to render themselves 
worthy of respect — Some children born with defective moral 
and intellectual organs — How they should be treated. 
Next to the duty of providing for the physical health 
and enjoyment of their children, parents are bound to train 
and educate them properly, so as to fit them for the dis- 
charge of the duties of life. The grounds of this obliga- 
tion are obvious. The human body and mind may be 
viewed as a large assemblage of organs and faculties, pos- 
sessing native energy and extensive spheres of action, each 
capable of being used or abused, according as it is directed. 
The extent of range of these powers is a prime element in 
the dignity of man, yet it is this which renders education 
so important. As parents are the authors and guardians 
of the beings thus endowed, it is clearly their duty to train 
the faculties of those beings, and to direct them to their 
proper objects. "-To send an uneducated child into the 
world," says Paley, " is little better than to turn out a 
mad dog, or a wild beast, into the streets." 

To direct education properly, it is necessary to know the 
physical and mental constitution of the being to be edu- 
cated, and also the world in which he is to be an actor. Ge- 
nerally speaking, the former knowledge is not possessed, 
and the latter object is very little regarded by parents in the 
education of their children. How many parents are able to 
call up to their own minors any satisfactory view of the men- 
tal faculties, with their objects and spheres of activity, 
which they aim at training in their children 1 How many 
add to this knowledge an acquaintance with the physical 
constitution of the human being, and of the kind of treat- 
ment which is best calculated to develope favourably its 
energies and capabilities 1 Nay, who can point out even a 
body of professional teachers who are thus highly accom- 
plished 1 I fear none of us can do so 
12* 



138 DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

I do not blame either parents or teachers for the present 
imperfect state of their knowledge ; because they were not 
themselves taught ; indeed, the information here described 
did not exist a few years ago, and- it exists but very imper- 
fectly still. Ignorance, therefore, is our misfortune, rather 
than our fault ; and my sole object in adverting to its mag- 
nitude is to present us all with motives to remove it 
While it continues so profound and extensive as it has hith- 
erto in general been, sound and salutary education can no 
more be accomplished, than you can cause light to shine 
forth out of darkness. Scotland has long boasted of her 
superior education ; but her eyes are now opening to the 
groundlessness of this idea. In May, 1835, Dr. Welsh told 
the nation, in the General Assembly, that Protestant Ger- 
many, and even some parts of Catholic Germany, are in 
that respect far before us. The public mind is becoming 
so much alive to our deficiencies, that better prospects open 
up for the future. The details of education cannot here 
be entered into ; but it may be remarked, that phrenology 
points out the necessity of training the propensities and sen- 
timents, as well as cultivating and instructing the under- 
standings of children. For accomplishing these ends, 
infant-schools on Mr. Wilderspin's plan are admirably 
adapted. 

The objects of education are — to strengthen each faculty 
that is too weak, to restrain those which are too vigorous, 
to store the intellect with moral, religious, scientific, and 
general knowledge, and to direct all to their proper objects. 
In cultivating the intellect, we should bear in view that ex- 
ternal nature is as direclly adapted to our different intellec- 
tual powers as light to the eye, and that the whole economy 
of our constitution is arranged on the principle that we 
shall study the qualities and relations of external objects, 
apply them to our use, and also adapt our conduct to their 
operation. The three great means of education are, domes- 
tic training, public schools, and literature or books. The 
first will be improved by instructing parents, and the second 
by the diffusion of knowledge among the people at large ; 
while the third is now — through the efforts of those philan- 
thropists who have given birth to really cheap moral and 
scientific literature (particularly ^Messrs. Chambers of Edin- 
burgh)— placed within the reach of every class of the com- 
munity. 



DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 139 

Messrs. Chambers have lately added to their other means 
of instruction a series of cheap books on education, in which 
the lights of modern knowledge are brought together to 
illuminate and render practical this interesting subject. 
Europe is, at this moment, only waking out of the slumbers 
01 the dark ages ; she is beginning to discover that she is 
ignorant, and to desire instruction. The sun of knowledge, 
however, is still below the horizon to vast multitudes of our 
British population ; but they are startled by a bright efful- 
gence darting from a radiant sky, and they now know that 
that light is the dawn of a glorious day, which will tend to 
terminate their troubled dreams of ignorance and folly. Let 
ns help to arouse them — let us lead them to pay their morn- 
ing orisons in the great temple of universal truth. When 
they shall have entered into that temple, let us introduce 
them to nature and to nature's God ; and let us hasten the 
hour when the whole human race shall join together, to 
celebrate his power, wisdom, and goodness, in strains which 
shall never cease till creation pass away ; for we know that 
the sun of knowledge, unlike the orb of day, when once 
risen, will never set, but will continue to emit brighter and 
brighter rays, till time shall be no more. In eternity, alone, 
can we conceive the wonders of creation to be completely 
unfolded, and the mind of man to be satiated with the ful- 
ness of information. 

In the present course of lecture, I am treating merely of 
duties ; and when I point out to you the foundation and 
extent of the duty of educating your children, it is all that 
I can accomplish. I cannot here discuss the manner in 
which you may best discharge this obligation. This in- 
struction can be obtained only by a thorough education of 
your own minds ; and the courses of lectures provided by the 
Philosophical Association are admirable auxiliaries to the 
attainment of this end. After you have become acquainted 
with anatomy and physiology as the keys to the physical 
constitutioii of man ; with phrenology as the developement 
of his mental constitution ; with chemistry, natural his- 
tory, and natural philosophy as expositions of the external 
world ; and with political economy and moral philosophy 
as the sciences of human action ; you will be in possession 
of the rudimentary or elementary knowledge necessary to 
enable you to comprehend and profit by a course of lectures 
on practical education, which is really the application of 



140 DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

this knowledge to the most important of all purposes, that 
of training the body to health, and the mind to virtue, in- 
telligence, and happiness. I hope that the directors of this 
association will hereafter induce some qualified lecturer to 
undertake such a course ; but I beg leave to express my 
humble conviction, that no error is more preposterous than 
that which leads many persons to suppose that, ivitlwut this 
preliminary or elementary knowledge, parents can be taught 
how to educate their children successfully. 

The process of education consists in training faculties 
and communicating knowledge ; and it appears to me to be 
about as hopeless a task to attempt to perform this duty by 
mere rules and directions, as it was for the Israelites to 
make bricks in Egypt with straw. I am the more anxious 
to insist on this point, because no error is more common in 
the practical walks of life, than the belief that a parent 
may be taught how to educate a child without undergoing 
the labour of educating himself. Many parents of both 
sexes, but particularly mothers, have told me, that if I would 
lecture on education, they would come and hear me, be- 
cause they considered the education of their children to be 
a duty, and were disposed to sacrifice the time necessary 
for obtaining instruction to discharge it. When I recom- 
mended to them to begin by studying physiology, chemistry, 
natural philosophy, and phrenology, at least to so great an 
extent as to be able to comprehend the nature of the body 
and mind which they proposed to train, and of the objects 
by which the mind and body are surrounded, and on which 
education is intended to enable them to act — they instantly- 
declared that they had no time for these extensive inquiries, 
and that information about education was what they wanted, 
as it alone was necessary to their object. I told them in 
vain that these were preliminary steps to any available 
knowledge of education. They were so ignorant of mind 
and of its faculties and relations, that they could not con- 
ceive this to be the case, and refused to attend these courses 
of instruction. 

If I could succeed in persuading you of the truth of this 
view, the permanence of this association and the success 
of its lectures would be secured ; because the industrious 
citizens of Edinburgh would prize it as a grand means of 
preparing their own minds for the important duty of educa- 
ting their children, and would no longer come hither merely 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 141 

to be amused or to pass an idle hour ; they would regard 
every science taught by this association as a step toward 
the attainment of the most important object of human life — 
that of training the yonng to health, intelligence, virtue, 
and enjoyment.* 

The next duty of parents is, to provide suitably for the 
outfit of their children in the world. If I am right in my 
fundamental principles, that happiness consists in well re- 
gulated activity of the various functions of the body and 
mind, and that the wcrld is designedly arranged by the 
Creator with a view to the maintenance of our powers in 
this condition of activity — it follows that a parent who shall 
have provided a good constitution for his child, preserved 
him in sound health, thoroughly educated him, trained him 
to some useful calling, and supported him until he have be- 
come capable of exercising that calling — will have dis- 
charged the duty of maintenance in its highest and best 
sense. I regard it as of much importance to children to give 
them correct views of the real principles, machinery, and 
objects of life, and to train thorn to act systematically in their 
habitual conduct. 

bat should we think of a merchant who should em- 
bark himself, his wife, family, and fortune, on board of a 
ship ; and who should take the command of it himself, and 
set sail on a voyage of adventure, without knowledge of 
navigation, without charts, and without having any particu- 
lar port of destination in view ] We should consider him 
as a lunatic ; and yet many men are launched forth on the 
sea of active life, as ill provided with knowledge and objects, 
as the individual here imagined. Suppose, however, our 
adventurous navigator to use the precaution of placing him- 
self under convoy, to attach himself to a fleet, and to sail 
when they sailed, and stop where they stopped, we should 
still lament his ignorance, and reckon the probabilities great 
of his running foul of his companions in the voyage, founder- 
ing in a storm, being wrecked on shoals or sunken rocks, or 
making an unproductive speculation even if he safely attain- 
ed a trading port. This simile appears to me to be scarcely 
an exaggeration of the condition in which young men in 
general embark in the business of the world. The great 

* I regret to mention that the hope expressed in the text of 
the permanence of the lectures of the Philosophical Associa- 
tion has not been realized. They have already ceased. 1840. 



142 DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

mass of society is the fleet to which they attach themselves ; 
it is moving onward and they move with it ; sometimes it 
is favoured with prosperity, sometimes overtaken by adver- 
sity, and they passively undergo its various fates ; some' 
times they make shipwreck of themselves by running foul 
of their neighbours' interests, or by deviating from the 
course, and encountering hazards peculiarly their own ; but 
in all they do, and in all they suffer, they obey an impulse 
from without, and rarely pursue any definite object except 
the acquisition of wealth, and they follow even it without a 
systematic plan. If you consider that this moving mass 
called society is only a vast assemblage of individuals, 
nearly all equally ignorant, and that the impulses which 
they obey are merely the desires of the most energetic 
minds, pursuing, often blindly, their individual advantage, 
you cannot be surprised at the strange gyrations which 
society has so often exhibited. In rude ages, the lead- 
ers and the people loved " the pride, pomp, and circum- 
stance of glorious war," and they moved to the sound of 
the trumpet, and rejoiced in the clang of arms. In our day, 
the leaders steer to wealth and fame, and the mass toils 
after them as best it may. In one year a cotton mania 
seizes the leaders, and vast portions of the people are in- 
fected with the disease. In another year a mania for joint 
stock companies attacks them, and their followers again 
catch the infection. In these varying aspects of social 
movements we discover nothing like a well considered 
scheme of action, adopted from knowledge, and pursued to 
its results. The leaders, and the multitude appear equally 
to be moved by impulses which control and correct each 
other by collision and concussion, but in each of which 
thousands of individuals are crushed to death, although the 
mass escapes and continues to move forward in that course 
which corresponds to the direction of the last force which 
was applied to it. 

It appears to me that, by correct and enlarged knowledge 
of human nature, and of the external world, the young 
might be furnished with a chart and plan of life, suited to 
their wants, desires, and capacities, as rational beings, and 
which would enable them, if they possessed energy to be- 
come leaders, to steer the social course with greater preci- 
sion, safety, and advantage, than in bygone times : or, if 
they were humble members of the body politic, to shape 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 143 

thei* individual courses, so as in some degree to avoid the 
collisions and concussions which reckless ardour, in alliance 
with ignorance, is ever producing. A young man, if pro- 
perly instructed, should commence active life with a clear 
perception of the results to which the various courses of 
action submitted to his choice are calculated to lead, and 
the steps by which these results are in general evolved. 
This advantage, however, is rarely possessed, and the 
young are left to grope their way, or to join the convoy and 
sail with the fleet, as they prefer. 

Under the present system of instinctive and imitative 
action, one or other of two errors generally infects the 
youthful mind. If the parents have long struggled with 
pecuniary difficulties, and suffered under the depression of 
poverty, but ultimately, after much exertion and painful 
self-denial, have attained to easy circumstances — they teach 
their children almost to worship wealth, and at the same 
time fill their minds with vivid ideas of laborious exertion, 
sacrifices, difficulties, cares, and troubles, as almost the 
only occurrences of life. The idea of enjoyment is closely 
allied with that of sin ; and young persons thus trained, if 
they possess well constituted brains, often become rich, but 
rarely reap any reasonable satisfaction from their earthly 
existence. They plod, and toil, and save, and invest ; but 
cultivate neither their moral nor their intellectual faculties, 
and at the close of life complain that all is vanity and vexa- 
tion of spirit. 

The second error is diametrically the opposite of this one. 
Parents of easy, careless dispositions, who have either in- 
herited wealth, or been successful in business without much 
exertion, generally teach their children the art of enjoying 
life without that of acquiring the means of doing so ; and 
such children enter into trade or engage in professions under 
the settled conviction (not by their parents, perhaps, in 
direct terms, but insensibly instilled into their minds by ex- 
ample) that the paths of life are all level, clear, and smooth ; 
that they need only to put the machinery of business into mo- 
tion ; and that, thereafter, all will go softly forward, afford- 
ing them funds and leisure for enjoyment, with little anxiety, 
and very moderate exertion. Young persons thus instruct- 
ed, if they do not possess uncommonly large organs of Cau- 
tiousness and Conscientiousness, go gayly on in active life 
for a brief space of time, and then become the victims of a 



144 DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 

false system and of inexperience. They are ruined, and 
suffer countless privations. The errors of both of these 
modes of training the young should be avoided. 

After health, education, and virtuous habits, the best pro- 
vision that a parent can make for his son is, to furnish him 
with sound views of his real situation as a member of the 
social body. The Creator having destined man to live in 
society, the social world is so arranged that an individual, 
illuminated by a knowledge of the laws which regulate social 
prosperity, by dedicating himself to a useful pursuit, and 
fulfilling ably the duties connected with it, will meet with 
very nearly as certain a reward, in the means of subsistence 
and enjoyment, as if he raised his food directly from the soil. 
There are astonishing regularity and stability discoverable 
in the movements of the social world, when its laws of ac- 
tion are understood. The labourer, artisan, manufacturer, 
and professional practitioner, find the demands for their 
labour, goods, or other contributions to the social welfare, 
to follow one after another with constancy and regularity, 
so that, with ability, attention, and morality, they are very 
rarely indeed left unprovided for. It is of great importance 
to press home this truth on the minds of the young, and to 
open their understandings to a perception of the causes 
which operate in producing this result, that they may enter 
into active life with a just reliance on the wisdom and good- 
ness of the Creator, in providing the means of subsistence 
end enjoyment for all who discharge their social duties ; 
and yet with a feeling of the necessity of knowledge, and 
of the practice of that moral discipline which enforces ac- 
tivity and good conduct at every step, as the natural and in- 
dispensable conditions of success. 

In our own country, the duty of teaching sound and prac- 
tical views of the nature of man as an individual, and of 
the laws which regulate his social condition, to the young, 
has become doubly urgent since the passing of the reform 
act. Under the previous system of government, only the 
wealthy were allowed to exercise the political franchise ; 
and as education was a pretty general concomitant of 
wealtlvpower and knowledge (so far as knowledge exist- 
ed) were to a great degree united in the same hands. Now, 
however, when great property is no longer indispensable to 
the exercise of political power, it is necessary to extend and 
improve general education. The middle classes of this 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 145 

■country have, in their own hands, the power of returning a 
majority of the house of commons ; and as the commons 
hold the strings of the national purse, and, when nearly 
unanimous, exercise an irresistible influence in the state, it 
is obvious that those who elect them ought to be educated 
and rational men. { 

In past ages, government has been conducted too often on 
short-sighted empirical principles, and rarely on the basis 
of a sound and comprehensive philosophy of man's nature 
and wants : hence the wars undertaken for futile and im- 
moral purposes ; hence the heavy taxes which oppress indus- 
try and obstruct prosperity ; hence, also, the restrictions, 
protections, and absurd monopolies, which disgrace the 
statute-book of the nation ; all which are not only direct 
evils, but are attended by this secondary disadvantage that 
they have absorbed the funds, and consumed the time and 
mental energy, which, under a better system, would have 
been dedicated to the improvement of national and public 
institutions. Henceforth the government of this country 
must be animated by, and act up to, the general intelligence 
of the nation ; but it will be impossible for it to advance to 
any considerable extent beyond it. Every patriot, there- 
fore, will find in this fact an additional motive to qualify 
himself for expanding the minds and directing the steps of 
the rising generation, that Britain's glory and happiness may 
pass, untarnished and unimpaired, to the remotest posterity 
of virtuous and enlightened men.* 

The question next arises, What provision in money or 
land is a parent bound to make for his children 1 To this 
no answer, that would suit all circumstances, can be given. 
As parents cannot carry their wealth to the next world, it 
must of course be left to some one ; and the natural feel- 
ings of mankind seem to dictate that it should be given to 

* The remarks in the text apply with still greater force to 
the United States of America. There the supreme political 
power is wielded by the mass of the people. No rational per- 
son will maintain that one ignorant man is a proper ruler for a 
great nation ; but additions to numbers do not alter the species. 
Twenty, or a hundred, or a thousand ignorant men, are not 
wiser than one of them ; while they are much more dangerous. 
They inflame each other's passions, keep each other's follies 
in countenance, and add to each other's strength. If the 
United States, therefore, desire to avoid anarchy and ruin, they 
•must educate the mass of their people. 
13 



146 DUTIES OP PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN 

those who stand nearest in kindred and highest in merit in 
relation to the testator. With respect to children, in ordi- 
nary circumstances, this cannot be questioned ; for it is* 
clearly the duty of parents to do all in their power to make 
happy the existence of those whom they have brought into 
the world. But difference of customs in different countries, 
and difference of ranks in the same country, render diffe- 
rent principles of distribution useful and proper. In Britain, 
a nobleman who should distribute £100,000 equally among 
ten children, would do great injustice to his eldest son, to 
whom a title of nobility would descend, with its concomi- 
tant expenses ; but a merchant who had realized £1^0,000, 
would act more wisely and justly in leaving £10,000 to 
each of ten children, than in attempting to found a family 
by entailing £82,000 on his eldest son, and leaving only 
£2000 to each of the other nine. I consider hereditary 
titles as an evil to society, and desire their abolition ; but 
while they are permitted to exist, the distribution of wealth 
should bear reference to the expenses which they necessa- 
rily entail on those who inherit them. The United States 
of America have wisely avoided this institution \ and by 
the laws of most of these states, an equal distribution of 
the family estate, real and personal, among all the children, 
ensues on the death of the parents. This practice appears 
to me to be wise and salutary. It tends to lessen that con- 
centration of all thought and desire on themselves and their 
families, which is the besetting sin of the rich, and it teaches 
them to perceive that the prosperity of their children is in- 
dissolubly linked with that of their country. As a general 
rule, parents ought to make the largest provisions for those 
members of their families who are least able, from sex, con- 
stitution, capacity, or education, to provide for themselves. 
In the lower ranks of life, where both sexes engage in 
labour, an equal distribution may, other circumstances being 
equal, be just ; in the middle ranks, in which it is the cus- 
tom for males to engage in business, but in which females 
do not, in general, labour — if the parents have a numerous 
family and moderate fortune, I should consider the sons 
amply provided for, by furnishing them with education and 
a calling ; while the property of the parents should be given 
chiefly to the daughters. It is impossible, however, as I 
have already hinted, to lay down rules that will be univer- 
sally applicable. 



DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN. 147 

It is a grave question whether the indefinite accumula- 
tion of wealth ought to be allowed ; but, however this may- 
be determined, there ought to be no restriction on the power 
of spending and disposing of property. Entails are a great 
abuse, introduced by Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation 
acting apart from Benevolence and Conscientiousness. The 
Creator has obviously intended that wealth should be en- 
joyed only on the condition of the exercise of at least ave- 
rage discretion by its possessor ; yet the object of entails 
is to secure it and its attendant influence to certain heirs, 
altogether independently of their intelligence, morality, and 
prudence. Laws have been enacted by which it is contem- 
plated that estates should be transmitted unimpaired from 
sire to son, through endless generations, although each pos- 
sessor, in hk turn, may be a pattern of vice and imbecility. 
But the law of Nature is too strong to be superseded by 
the legislation of ignorant and presumptuous men. The 
children of intelligent, virtuous, and healthy parents, are so 
well constituted as to need no entails to preserve their fa- 
mily estates and honours unimpaired ; while, on the other 
hand, children with immoral dispositions are prone, in spite 
of the strictest entail, to tarnish that glory and distinction 
which the law vainly attempts to keep in brightness. Ac- 
cordingly, many families, where a good mind descends, 
flourish for centuries without entails ; whereas others, in 
which immoral or foolish minds are hereditary, live in con- 
stant privation, notwithstanding the props of erroneous laws ; 
each immoral heir of entail mortgages his liferent right, and 
lives a beggar and an outcast from his artificial sphere of 
life. 

The organic laws afford the only means acknowledged 
by the Creator, of maintaining family possessions undis- 
solved ; and until men shall resort to obedience to them, 
as the means of preserving a great, virtuous, and flourish- 
ing posterity, they will in vain frame acts of parliament to 
attain this object. 

Parents have rights as well as duties in relation to their 
children. They are entitled to the produce of the child's 
labour during its non-age ; to its respect and obedience ;. 
and, when infirm, to maintenance, if necessary. These 
rights on the part of the parents imply corresponding duties 
incumbent on the children. The obligation on the children 
to discharge them, flows directly from the dictates of Vene» 



148 DUTIES OF CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS. 

ration, Conscientiousness, and Benevolence. It has often 
been objected to phrenology that it presents no organ of 
filial piety. It points to the three moral organs as contri- 
buting to the fulfilment of duty to parents. Veneration- 
dictates reverence, respect, and obedience ; Conscientious- 
ness dictates gratitude, or a return for their care and affec- 
tion ; while Benevolence impels to the promotion of their 
happiness by every possible means. Adhesiveness binds 
©Id and young in the bonds of reciprocal attachment. 

In the lower and middle ranks of life, the want of respect 
and obedience on the part of children is extensively com- 
plained of ; but the general cause of this evil is the want 
of sufficient knowledge and goodness in the parents to ren- 
der them really objects of respect to the higher sentiments 
©f their children. The mere fact of being father or mother 
to the child, is obviously not sufficient to excite its moral 
affections.* The parent must manifest superior wisdom 
and intelligence, and also a disposition to promote its wel- 
fare ; and then respect and obedience will be the natural 
fruits. The attempt to render a child respectful and obe- 
dient by merely telling it to be so, is not less absurd than 
would be the endeavour to make it fond of music by assu- 
ring it that filial duty requires that it should love melody. 
We must present music itself to the faculty of Tune ; and 
in like manner the moral sentiments must be addressed by 
their appropriate objects.. Harsh conduct tends strongly to 
rouse the faculties of Combativeness, Destructiveness, and 
Self-Esteem ; while the Moral Sentiments can be excited 
only by rational, kind, and just treatment. As reasonably 
might a tyrannical father hope to gather figs from a bram- 
ble-bush, as to be loved and respected by his ill-treated 
children. If a parent desire to have a docile, affectionate, 
and intelligent family, he must habitually address himself 
to their moral and intellectual powers ; he must make them 
feel that he is wise and good — exhibit himself as the natu- 
ral object of attachment and respect ; and by average chil- 
dren, performance of these duties will not be withheld. 

* An American clerical Reviewer objected to the text, that 
it sets aside the Bible, which commands children to honour 
their father and mother without regard to their qualities. He 
forgets that the Scriptures require parents to adorn themselves 
with all the Christian virtues, and that the fifth commandment 
enviously implies that they have fulfilled this duty. 



DCTIES OF CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS. 149 

If parents knew and paid regard to the mental and bodily 
constitution of the young, they would be far less frequently 
disobeyed than they actually are. Many of their commands 
forbid the exercise of faculties which in children pant for 
gratification, and which Nature intended to be gratified ; 
and the misery and disappointment consequent on balked 
desire have an effect very different from that of disposing 
to affection and obedience. The love of muscular motion, 
for instance, is irrepressible in children, and physiology 
proves that the voice of Nature ought to be carefully regard- 
ed ; yet the obedience of children to this instinct is, inmost 
cases, strictly prohibited, that the family or teacher may not 
be disturbed by noise ; faculties are called on to work which 
Nature intended to operate at a later period of life ; the 
health and happiness of the children are impaired ; and if 
the peevishness which ensues be unpalatable to the parents, 
they should ascribe the evil to their own irrational treatment. 

A friend, who is the father of several intelligent children, 
told me that, before he studied phrenology and the natural 
laws, he taught his children the shorter catechism, and re- 
quired their obedience on the strength of the fifth command- 
ment, " Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days 
may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee," assuring them that God would punish them by pre- 
mature death if they disobeyed this commandment. God, 
he said, had power of life and death over all, and, as he 
was just, he would enforce his authority. The children 
soon learned, however, by experience, that this consequence 
did not actually follow : they disobeyed, and were threaten- 
ed ; but, finding themselves still alive, they disobeyed again. 
He was not successful, therefore, by this method, in en- 
forcing obedience. 

After becoming acquainted with the natural laws, he still 
taught them the commandment, but he gave a different ex- 
planation of it. You see, said he, that there are many ob- 
jects around you very dangerous to your lives : there is 
fire that will burn you, water that will drown you, poison 
that will kill you ; and, also, there are many habits and 
practices which will undermine the constitution of your 
vital organs ; such as your heart, your stomach, or your 
lungs, (explaining these at the same time,) and cause you 
to die ; as you have seen John and Janet, the children 
of Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Brown, die. Now, because I 
13* 



150 DUTIES OF CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENT*. 

am old, and have listened to my parents, and have studied 
and observed a great deal, I know what will injure you, and 
what will not, which you do not know yourselves ; and I 
am willing to communicate all my knowledge and experience 
to you, that you may avoid danger and not die, if you choose 
to listen to, and obey me : but, if you prefer taking your 
own way, and acting on your own ignorance, you will soon 
discover that God's threat is not an empty one ; you will come 
home some day, suffering severely from your own rashness 
and self-will, and then you will learn whether you were 
right in your disobedience ; you will then understand the 
meaning of the commandment to be, that if you obey your 
perents, and avail yourself of their knowledge and expe- 
rience, you will avoid danger and live ; if you neglect then- 
counsels, you will, through sheer ignorance and self-will, 
fall into misfortune, suffer severely, and perhaps die. He 
said that this commentary, enforced from day to day by 
proofs of his knowing more than the children did, was suc- 
cessful ; they became much more obedient, and entertained 
a higher respect both for the commandment and for him. 

It is a common practice with nurses, when a child falls 
and hurts itself, to beat the ground, or the table, against 
which it has struck. This is really cultivating the feeling of 
revenge. It gratifies the child's Self-Esteem and Destruc- 
tiveness, and pacifies it for the moment. The method of 
proceeding dictated by the natural law is widely different. 
The nurse or parent should take pains to explain the cause 
of its falling, and present it with motives to take greater 
care in future. The suffering would thus be turned to good 
account ; it would become, what it was intended by Provi- 
dence to be, a lesson to lead the child to wisdom and virtue 
— to patience, to circumspection, and to reflection. In ex- 
acting obedience from children, it should never be forgotten 
that their brains are very differently constituted from each 
other, and that their mental dispositions vary in a corres- 
ponding degree. The organ of Veneration, besides, is gene- 
rally late in being developed, so that a child may be stub- 
born and unmanageable under one kind of treatment, or at 
one age, who shall prove tractable and obedient under a 
different discipline, or at a future period. The aid which 
parents may derive from phrenology can hardly be over- 
rated. It enables them to appreciate the natural talents 
and dispositions of each child, to modify their treatment, 



DUTIES OP CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS. 151 

and to distinguish between positively vicious tendencies 
(such as deceit, lying, and dishonesty) and other manifesta- 
tions, (such as stubbornness and disobedience,) which often 
proceed from misdirection of qualities that will prove ex- 
tremely useful in the maturity of the understanding. The 
reason for watchfulness and anxiety is much greater in the 
former than in the latter case ; because dishonesty, false- 
hood, and pilfering, betoken not only over-active organs of 
Secretiveness and Acquisitiveness, but a native deficiency 
of the controlling moral organs, which is a more serious 
evil. When the moral organs are adequately possessed, 
the perceptions of children regarding right and wrong aro 
naturally active and extremely acute ; and although indi- 
viduals with a large developement of the organs of the 
higher sentiments may commit aberrations in youth, under 
the impulse of the propensities, they will certainly improve 
as age and experience increase. Where the moral organs 
are very defective, the individual tends to deterioration of 
character in mature life. After the restraints imposed by 
parental authority are withdrawn, and respect for the world 
is blunted, persons deficient in these faculties are prone to 
become victims to their inferior feelings, and to disgrace 
themselves and bring sorrow on their connexions. 

As some individuals are really born with such deficien- 
cies of the moral organs as incapacitate them for pursuing 
right conduct, although they possess average intellect, and 
are free from diseased action of the brain ; and as there is 
no legal method of restraining them unless they commit 
what the law accounts crime ; great misery is often endured 
by their relatives in seeing them proceed from one step of 
folly and iniquity to another, until they are plunged into 
irretrievable ruin and disgrace. The phrenologist who dis- 
covers that the source of the evil lies in an imperfect de- 
velopement of the moral organs, views them as patients, 
and desires that physical restraint should be applied to pre- 
vent the abuses of their lower propensities, which they have 
not morality sufficient to command.* But there is no law 

* A writer in the New York Review stigmatizes the doctrine 
in the text, as being " calculated to weaken our sense of ac- 
countability, or shake our confidence in moral distinctions." 
He quotes from the " Reports " of these lectures the following 
words : 4< Extensive observation of the heads of criminals, and 
inquiry into their feelings and histories, place it beyond a doubt, 



152 DUTIES OP CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS. 

authorizing their relatives to treat them in this manner 
against their inclinations. In the neighbourhood of Paris, 
however, Mons. Voison, an intelligent phrenologist, has 
opened an institution for the reception of patients of this 
description, who are still under parental authority, or that of 
guardians. He receives youths who are not labouring under 
any disease or derangement of their faculties, but whose 
organs are so unfavourably combined, that, when left to their 
instinctive impulses in ordinary society, and under the usual 
guidance, they cannot refrain from immorality. He pro- 
ceeds in his whole treatment on phrenological principles, 
openly and avowedly. In the first place, he withdraws ex- 
ternal temptation ; for the children live in an establishment 
apart from ordinary society. Secondly, he imposes restraint ; 
for each patient is attended constantly by a tutor, or supe- 
rior servant, who is chargeable with superintending his ac- 

that in many of them conscience is, and always has been, 
either very defective, or had literally no existence." " It is ex- 
tremely questionable whether society should punish severely 
those who err through moral blindness arising from deficiency 
of certain parts of the brain." The Reviewer does not propose 
to inquire whether this statement be borne out by facts or not; 
but at once assumes that it is not, and proceeds thus : " This 
is, indeed, ' a Revelation,' and there can be little doubt that at 
Sing-Sing and Auburn it would receive a most cordial recep- 
tion." As my motto is " res non verba" (facts not arguments,) 
I submit the following narrative to the consideration of the Re- 
viewer, and of other persons in a similar frame of mind to his. 
On the 22d October, 1839, 1 visited the state-prison of Con- 
necticut, at Wethersfield, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Gal- 
laudet, the Rev. Principal Totten, Dr. A. Brigham, and four or 
five other gentlemen, who had attended my course of lectures 
on phrenology, then nearly concluded at Hartford. I had illus- 
trated th£ doctrine in the text by the exhibition of numerous 
casts, and impressed on their minds the peculiar forms of de- 
velopement which distinguish the best from the worst consti- 
tuted brains. Mr. Pillsbury, the superintendent of the prison, 
brought a criminal into his office, without speaking one word 
concerning his crime or history. I declined to examine his 
head myself, but requested the gentlemen who accompanied 
me to do so, engaging to correct their observations, if they 
erred. They proceeded with the examination, and stated the 
inferences which they drew respecting the natural dispositions 
of the individual. Mr. Pillsbury then read from a manu- 
script paper, which he had prepared before we came, the cha- 
racter as known to him. The coincidence between the two 



DUTIES Or CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS. 153 

tions at all times, and keeping a constant watch over him. 
Thirdly, he uses every active means to cultivate and 
strengthen the organs that are deficient, by exercise and in- 
struction. He and his partner, and his partner's wife, live 
among them and superintend the whole. The establish- 
ment is very recent, and its success is yet unascertained.* 
It has received some pupils from France, and already one 
from Britain. Similar institutions are much wanted in this 
country, and they ought to be established, and aided by the 
law. I know of numerous and most distressing examples 
of young persons going to utter and irreclaimable ruin both 
in property, health, and character, who by no human means, 
if not by such institutions, could have been saved. t 

My conviction is, that if parents have transmitted to their 
children well balanced and favourably developed brains, and 
if they have done their duty in training, educating, and 

was complete. This prisoner was withdrawn, another was 
introduced, and the same process was gone through, and with 
the same result in regard to him. So with a third, and a 
fourth. Among the criminals, there were striking differences- 
in intellect and in some of the feelings, which were correctly 
stated by the observers. 

These experiments, I repeat, were made by the gentlemen 
who accompanied me ; and as some of them were evangelical 
clergymen, of the highest reputation, I requested them to mani- 
pulate their heads. They did so, and inferred the dispositions 
from actual perception of the great deficiencies in the moral 
organs, and the predominance of the animal organs, in those 
individuals whom Mr. Piltebury pronounced to be, in his 
opinion, incorrigible ; for the question was solemnly put to 
him, by Dr. Brigham, whether he found any of the prisoners 
to be irreclaimable under the existing system of treatment, and 
he acknowledged that he did. One of the individuals who 
was examined had been tbirty years in the state-prison, under 
four different sentences, and in him the moral region of the 
brain was exceedingly deficient. I respectfully pressed upon 
the attention of the reverend gentlemen, that the facts which 
they had observed were institutions of the Creator, and that 
it was in vain for man to be angry with them, to deny them, or 
to esteem them of light importance. 

* I regret to hear that this institution was not successful, 

chiefly from very lax management. 1840. 

t The Houses of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents, in the 

United States, correspond, in some degree, to the institutions 

mentioned in the text as wanting, but they do not fulfil the 

whole requisites. 



154 FORMATION OF SOCIETY. 

fitting them out in the world, they will rarely have cause to 
complain of ingratitude or want of filial piety. Where the 
brains of the children are ill constituted, or where training 
and education have been neglected or improperly conducted, 
the parents, in reaping sorrow and disappointment from the 
behaviour of their offspring, are suffering the natural conse- 
quences of their own actions ; and if these are punishments, 
they should read in them an intimation of the divine dis- 
pleasure with their conduct. In proportion to the develope- 
ment and cultivation of the moral and intellectual faculties, 
are gratitude and filial piety strongly and steadily manifested 
by children. In the middle ranks, and among the well- 
principled and respectable members of the lower ranks, it 
is rare to see parents left in destitution by their children 
who are at all capable of maintaining them ; but among the 
heartless, reckless, and grossly ignorant, it is not uncom- 
mon. The legal provision which must be made by the 
parish for the poor, has tended to blunt the feelings of many 
individuals in regard to this duty ; yet great and beautiful 
examples of its fulfilment are frequent, and we may expect 
that the number of these will increase as education and im- 
provement advance. 

Among the domestic duties I might enumerate the reci- 
procal obligations of masters and servants ; but as the gene- 
ral principles which ought to regulate the conduct of men 
as members of society apply also to this relationship, I shall 
not enter into them at present. 



LECTURE VIII. 

Theories of philosophers respecting the origin of society — So 
lution afforded by Phrenology — Man has received faculties 
the spontaneous action of which prompts him to live in socie 
ty — Industry is man's first social duty — Labour, in modera 
tion, is a source of enjoyment, and nnt a punishment — The 
opinion that useful labour is degrading examined — The 
division of labour is natural, and springs from the faculties 
being bestowed in different degrees of strength on different 
individuals — One combination fits for one pursuit, and ano- 
ther for another — Gradations of rank are also natural, and 
arise from differences in native talents and in acquired skill 
— *Gradations of rank are beneficial to all, 

I proceed now to consider those social duties and rights 
which are not strictly domestic. The first subject of in* 



FORMATION OP SOCIETY. 155 

quiry is the origin of society itself. On this question many 
fanciful theories have been given to the world. It has en- 
gaged the imagination of the poet and the intellect of the 
philosopher. Ovid has described mankind as at first in a 
state of innocence and happiness during what is termed the 
golden age, and as declining gradually into vice and misery 
through the silver, brazen, and iron ages : 

" The golden age was first, when man, yet new, 
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew ; 
And with a native bent, did good pursue. 
Unforced by punishment, unawed by fear, 
His words were simple, and his soul sincere. 
***** 

No walls were yet ; nor fence, nor moat, nor mound ', 
No drum was heard, nor trumpet's angry sound ; 
Nor swords were forged ; but void of care and crime. 
The soft creation slept away their time. 

***** 

The flowers, unsown, in fields and meadows reigned, 
And western winds immortal springs maintained. 
In following years, the bearded corn ensued, 
From earth unasked, nor was that earth renewed. 
From veins of valleys milk and nectar broke, 
And honey sweating through the pores of oak." 

To this succeeded too rapidly the silver, the brazen, and 
the iron ages ; which last, the world had reached in the 
days of Ovid, and in which, unfortunately, it still remains. 

Rousseau, who was rather a poet than a philosopher, has 
written speculations " on the origin and foundations of the 
existing inequalities among men," which have powerfully 
attracted the attention of the learned. He informs us that 
he " sees man such as he must have proceeded from the 
hands of Nature, less powerful than some animals, less 
active than others, but, taking him on the whole, more ad- 
vantageously organized than any. He sees him satisfying 
his hunger under an oak, quenching his thirst at the first 
rivulet, finding his bed under the trees whose fruit had 
afforded him a repast, and thus satisfied to the full of every 
desire."* 

" It is impossible," continues he, " to conceive how, in 
tliis original condition, one man could have more need of 

* Discours sur L'Origine et les Fondemens d'Inegalite par- 
mi les Hommes. 4to. edit., Geneva, 1782, p. 48. 



156 FORMATION OP SOCIETY. 

another than a wolf or an ape has of his fellows ; or, sup~ 
posing the need to exist, what motive could induce the other 
to satisfy it ; or how, in this latter case, the two could agree 
upon the terms of their social intercourse." 

From these premises Rousseau draws the conclusion, 
that " the first who, having enclosed a piece of ground, 
took upon himself to call it * mine,,'' and found individuals 
so foolish as to believe him, was the true founder of civil 
society." What crimes, what wars, what murders, what 
miseries and horrors, would he have spared to the human 
race, who, tearing up the land-marks, or filling up the 
ditches, had cried to his equals, ' Beware how you listen to 
this impostor ! You are undone if you forget that the 
fruits of the earth belong to all, and the soil to none !' " 
P. 87. 

The fundamental error in Rousseau's speculation is, that 
he endows man, in his primitive condition, with whatever 
faculties he pleases ; or rather he bestows upon him no 
principles of action but such as suit his own theory. Nu- 
merous antagonists have combated these speculations, and, 
among others, Wieland has written half a volume on the 
subject ; but their absurdity is so self-evident, that I do not 
consider it necessary to enter into any lengthened refuta- 
tion of them. The mistake of such theorists is, that they 
assume the mind to be altogether passive— to have no spon- 
taneous activity giving origin to wants or desires : they 
ascribe the creation of almost all our propensities and tastes 
to the circumstances in which they were first manifested. 
The ear, in a state of health, hears no sounds till excited 
by the vibrations of the air, and they imagine the mind to 
be similar in its constitution. 

This mode of philosophizing resembles that which should 
account for an eruption of Mount Vesuvius by ascribing it 
to the rent in the surface of the mountain, through which 
the lava bursts, instead of attributing it to the mighty ener- 
gies of the volcanic matter buried beneath its rocks. 

Other philosophers besides Rousseau have theorized on 
the constitution of society, without previously investigating 
the constitution of the human mind. Mr. Millar, in his 
" Observations concerning the Distinction of Ranks in So- 
ciety," proceeds at once " to show the effects of poverty 
and barbarism with regard to the passions of the sex, to the 
general occupations of a people, and the degree of considera- 



FORMATION OF SOCIETY . 157 

tion which is paid to the women as member's of society," 
without at all inquiring into the innate tendencies and 
capacities of man, from which the facts which he wishes to 
account for proceed. However interesting such a work 
may be as a contribution to the natural history of man, it 
throws no light on the question, whence the conditions 
which it records have arisen 1 It leaves the mind unsatis- 
fied on the general and fundamental question, whether the 
whole aspect of society, such as it actually exists, has arisen 
from human institutions, aibitrary in their origin, and con- 
trollable by the human will ; or whether it has sprung in 
any degree, and, if so, how far, from instincts referable to 
nature itself. 

Lord Karnes, one of the shrewdest and most observant 
philosophers of the old school, has taken a more rational 
view of the origin of society. Perceiving that man has 
been endowed with natural aptitudes and desires, he founds 
upon these every institution which has been universal among 
mankind. He attributes the origin of society to " the social 
principle." Men became hunters from a natural appetite to 
hunt, and by hunting appeased their hunger. They became 
shepherds from seeing that it was easier to breed tame ani- 
mals than to catch wild ones, after hunting had made them 
scarce. Being shepherds, population increased, and ne- 
cessity made them desire an increase of food. They saw 
the earth in some climates producing corn spontaneously, 
and the idea arose that, by forwarding its growth and re- 
moving obstructing weeds, more corn would be produced ; 
and hence they became agriculturists. The idea of pro- 
perty sprang from the "hoarding appetite." Lord Kames 
ascribes the various institutions which exist in society to 
principles innate in the mind, and not to chance or factitious 
circumstances. 

Locke and some other writers have assigned the origin 
of society to reason, and represented it as springing from a 
compact by which individual men surrendered, for the gene- 
ral welfare, certain portions of their private rights, and sub- 
mitted to various restraints ; receiving, in return, protec- 
tion and other advantages arising from the social state* 
This idea also is erroneous. Society has always been far 
advanced before the idea of such a compact began to be 
entertained ; and even then it has occurred only to the 
14 



158 FORMATION OP SOCIETY. 

minds of philosophers. What solution, then, does phreno- 
logy offer] 

It shows that man possesses mental faculties endowed 
with spontaneous activity, which give rise to many desires 
equally definite with the appetite for food. Among these 
faculties are several which act as social instincts, and from 
the spontaneous activity of these society has obviously pro- 
ceeded. The phrenologist, then, follows in the same track 
with Lord Karnes ; but the advantage which he possesses 
over his lordship consists in the superior precision with 
which, by means of studying the organs of the mind, he has 
ascertained the faculties which are really primitive, with 
their functions and spheres of action, and also the effects 
of differences in the relative size of the organs in different 
individuals. 

From the three faculties of Amativeness, Philoprogeni- 
tiveness, and Adhesiveness, the matrimonial compact, as 
formerly stated, derives its origin. Adhesiveness has a yet 
wider sphere of action : it is the gregarious instinct, or 
propensity to congregate ; it desires the society of our 
fellow-men generally. Hence, its existence demonstrates 
that the Creator intended us to live in the social state. The 
nature and objects of other faculties besides Adhesiveness, 
lead to the same conclusion. Neither Benevolence, which 
prompts us to confer benefits — nor Love of Approbation, 
whose gratification is the applause and good opinion of 
others — nor Veneration, which gives a tendency to respect, 
and yield obedience to, superiors — nor Conscientiousness, 
which holds the balance wherein the rights of competing 
parties are weighed — has full scope, and a sufficiently wide 
sphere of action, except in general society : the domestic 
circle is too contracted for the purpose. 

The faculty of Conscientiousness, in particular, seems 
necessarily to imply the existence of the individual in the 
social state. To give rise to the exercise of justice and 
the fulfilment of duty, there must necessarily be two par- 
ties — the one to perform and the other to receive. Con- 
scientiousness would be as little useful to a solitary human 
being, as speech to a hermit ; while, even in the domestic 
circle, the faculties of Benevolence, Philoprogenitiveness, 
and Veneration, are more directly called into play than it. 
The head of the family bestows through affection and 
bounty ; the dependents receive with gratitude and respect ; 



FORMATION OF SOCIETY. 159 

and the feeling of duty, on the part of either, rarely mingles 
its influence, when these other and more direct principles 
play with great and spontaneous energy. The sphere in 
which Conscientiousness is most directly exercised, is that 
in which the interests and inclinations of equals come into 
competition. Conscientiousness, aided by intellect, then 
determines the rights of each, and inspires them with the 
feeling that it is their duty to do so much, and to demand 
no more. Phrenology enables us to prove that Conscien- 
tiousness is not a factitious sentiment, reared up in society, 
as many moral philosophers and metaphysicians have taught 
— but a primitive power, having its specific organ. This 
fact is essential to my argument ; and in my " System of 
Phrenology" I have exhibited the evidence by which it is 
established. 

The adaptation of the intellectual faculties to society is 
equally conspicuous. The faculty of Language implies the 
presence of intelligent beings, with whom we may commu- 
cate by speech. The faculties of Causality and Com- 
parison, which are the fountains of reasoning, imply our 
coexistence with other intellectual beings, with whose per- 
ceptions and experience we may compare our own. With- 
out combination, what advance could be made in science, 
arts, or manufactures ] As food is related to hunger, and 
light to the sense of vision, so is society adapted to the 
social faculties of man. The presence of human beings is 
indispensable to the gratification and excitement of our 
mental powers in general. What a void and craving is ex- 
perienced by those who are cut off from communication with 
their fellows ! Persons who are placed in remote and soli- 
tary stations on the confines of civilization, become dull in 
intellect, shy, unsocial, and unhappy. The most atrocious 
criminals, when placed in solitary confinement, without 
work, lose their ferocity, feel subdued, and speedily lose 
their health and vigour. The cause is, that the stimulus 
yielded to their faculties by the presence of their fellow- 
men is wanting. In the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsyl- 
vania solitary confinement, with labour, has been tried, and 
it has been found to subdue the mind, without impairing 
the health ; the mind finding excitement in the work per- 
formed. In the prisons of Auburn and Sing-Sing, in the 
state of New York, criminals have been compelled to work 
in silence and without communication with each other., but 



160 FORMATION OF SOCIETY. 

in society. They are locked up in solitary cells during 
night, and in the morning are marched, in solemn silence, 
into a great workshop, where they see each other, but in 
which no interchange of word, look, or sentiment is per- 
mitted. The presence of their fellow -creatures sustains 
the social faculties, and despondency is not induced. The 
restraint produces a softening of the feelings to a certain 
extent, which predisposes the mind to receive moral impres- 
sions ; while sufficient stimulus is, at the same time, afforded 
to the social sentiments to ward off too great a depression, 
amounting to disease. 

The balmy influence of society on the human mind may 
be discovered in the vivacious and generally happy aspect 
of those who live in the bosom of a family, or mingle freely 
with the world ; while the chilling effect of solitude is ap- 
parent in the cold, starched, and stagnant manners and ex- 
pression of those who refrain from associating with their 
fellow-creatures. 

A man whose muscular, digestive, respiratory, and cir- 
culating systems greatly predominate in energy over the 
brain and nervous system, stands less in need of society to 
gratify his mental faculties, than an individual oppositely 
constituted : he delights in active muscular exercise, and is 
never so happy as with the elastic turf beneath his feet and 
the blue vault of heaven over his head. But where the 
brain and nervous system are most energetic, there arise 
mental wants which can be gratified only in society, and 
residence in a city is felt indispensable to enjoyment : the 
mind flags and becomes feeble when not stimulated by col- 
lision -and converse with kindred spirits. In short, the 
social state is plainly as natural to man as it is to the bee, 
the raven, or the sheep. This question being set at rest, 
the duties implied in the constitution of society are next to 
be considered. 

The first duty imposed on man in relation to society is 
industry — a duty, the origin and sanction of which are easily 
discovered. Man is sent into the world naked, unprotected, 
and unprovided for. He does not, like the brutes, find his 
skin clothed with a sufficient covering, but must provide 
garments for himself ; he cannot perch on a bough or bur- 
row in a hole, but must rear a dwelling to protect himself 
from the weather ; he does not, like the ox, find his nourish- 
ment under his feet, but must hunt or cultivate the ground. 



FORMATION OP SOCIETY. 161 

To capacitate him for the performance of these neces- 
sary duties, he has received a body fitted for labour, and a 
mind calculated to direct his exertions ; while the external 
world has been created with the wisest adaptation to his 
constitution. 

Many of us have been taught, by our religious instructors, 
that labour is a curse, and that the necessity for it was im- 
posed by God on man as a punishment for sin. I remarked 
in the first lecture, that whether sin was or was not the 
cause which induced the Almighty to constitute man such 
as we now see him, an organized being, composed of bones, 
muscles, bloodvessels, nerves, respiratory and digestive 
organs, and a brain calculated to manifest a rational mind 
— and to confer on eternal nature its present qualities, 
adapted to give scope and exercise to these powers — philo- 
sophy cannot tell ; but it humbly appears to me that, con- 
stituted as we actually are, labour, which, in its proper 
sense, means exertion, either bodily or mental, for useful 
purposes, is not only no calamity, but the grand fountain 
of our enjoyment.* Unless we exercise our limbs, what 
happiness can they afford to us 1 If we do not exercise 
them, they become diseased, and punish us with positive 
pain ; so that the duty of bodily exertion is a law of God, 
written in all our system as strikingly as if it were em- 
blazoned on the sky. Constituted as we are, it is not la- 
bour, but inactivity, which is an evil — that is, which is 
visited by God with suffering and disease. The misery of 
idleness has been a favourite theme of moralists in every 
age ; and its baneful influence on the bodily health has 
equally attracted the notice of the physician and of observers 
in general. Happiness, in truth, is nothing but the gratifi- 
cation of active faculties ; and hence, the more active our 
faculties are, within the limits of health, the greater is our 
enjoyment. 

" Life's cares are comforts ; such by heaven designed ; 
He that has none must make them, or be wretched. 
Cares are employments, and without employ 
The soul is on a rack, the rack of rest, 
To souls most adverse — action all their joy." 

* A prisoner in the jail of Ayr, on being permitted to labour, 
observed that " he never knew before what a pleasant thing 
work is."— Fifth Report of the Inspector of Prisons, p. 4. 
14* 



162 FORMATION OP SOCIETY. 

The prevalent notion, that labour is an evil, must have 
arisen from ignorance of the constitution of man, and from 
contemplating the effects of labour carried to excess. 

Bodily and mental activity, therefore, being the law of 
our nature and the fountain of our enjoyment, I observe, first, 
that they may be directed to useful or to useless purposes ; 
and they may be carried to excess. Exertion for the attain- 
ment of useful objects is generally termed labour ; and, 
because of its utility, men have, with strange perversity, 
looked upon it as degrading ! Exertion for mere capricious 
self-gratification, and directed to no useful end, has, on the 
other hand, been dignified with the name of pleasure, and is 
esteemed honourable. These notions appear to be injurious 
errors, which obtain no countenance from the natural laws. 
Indeed, the proposition ought to be reversed. Pleasure 
increases in proportion to the number of faculties employed, 
and it becomes purer and more lasting, the higher the facul- 
ties are which are engaged in the enterprise. The pursuit 
of a great and beneficial object, such as providing for a fa- 
mily, or discharging an important duty to society, calls into 
energetic action not only a greater variety of faculties, but 
also faculties of a higher order, namely, the moral sentiments 
and intellect, than those frivolous occupations, miscalled 
pleasures, which are directed to self-indulgence and the 
gratification of vanity alone. 

The reason why labour has so generally been regarded as 
an evil, is its very unequal distribution among individuals — 
many contriving to exempt themselves from all participation 
in it, (though not to the increase of their own happiness,) 
while others have been oppressed with an excessive share. 
Both extremes are improper ; and the hope may reasonably 
be indulged in, that when society shall become so far en- 
lightened as to esteem that honourable which God has 
rendered at once profitable and pleasant — and when labour 
shall be properly distributed, and confined within the bounds 
of moderation — it will assume its true aspect, and be hailed 
by all as a rational fountain of enjoyment. 

Regarding bodily and mental activity, therefore, as insti 
tutions of the Creator, I observe, in the next place, that, as 
man has been destined for society, a division of occupations 
is indispensable to his welfare. If every one were to insist 
on cultivating the ground, there would be no manufacturers, 
carpenters, or builders. If all were to prefer the exercise 



FORMATION OF SOCIETY. 163 

of the constructive arts, we should have no agriculturists 
and no food. The Creator has arranged the spontaneous 
division of labour among men by the simplest, yet most 
effectual, means. He has bestowed different combinations 
of the mental faculties on different individuals, and thereby 
given them at once the desire and the aptitude for different 
occupations. Phrenology renders clear the origin of diffe- 
rences of employment. The metaphysicians treat only of 
general powers of the mind ; and, among the active princi- 
ples, enumerate ambition, the love of power, the love of 
kindred, and so forth, while their catalogue of intellectual 
faculties embraces only Perception, Conception, Abstraction, 
Attention, Memory, Judgment, and Imagination. Many of 
them deny that individuals differ in the degrees in which 
they possess these powers ; and ascribe all actual differences 
to education, association, habit, and a variety of similar 
causes. 

With their philosophy for our guide, we are called on to 
explain by what process of arrangement, or chapter of 
accidents, the general powers of Perception, Memory, Judg- 
ment, and Imagination, fit one man to be a carpenter, another 
a sailor, a third a merchant, a fourth an author, a fifth a 
painter, a sixth an engineer, and how each has a distinct 
liking for his trade. If this opinion be true, how comes it 
to pass that some who utterly fail in one pursuit, succeed to 
admiration in another 1 and whence is it that there was no 
jostling in the community at first, and that very little harsh 
friction occurs now, in arranging the duties to be performed 
by each individual member 1 We next require a solution of 
the problem by what cause one man's ambition takes the 
direction of war, another's that of agriculture, and a third 
that of painting or making speeches, if all their native apti- 
tudes and tendencies are the same, both in kind and degree ; 
how one man delights to spend his life in accumulating 
wealth, and another knows no pleasure equal to that of 
dissipating and squandering it. 

I do not detain you with the ingenious theories that have 
been propounded by the metaphysicians, as solutions of 
these questions, but come at once to the explanation afforded 
by the new philosophy. Phrenology teaches that man has 
received a variety of primitive faculties, each having specific 
spheres of action, and standing in specific relations to certain 
external objects, and that we take an interest in these objects 



164 FORMATION OP SOCIETY 

in consequence of their aptitude to gratify our faculties. If 
a hare and a cat, for instance, were playing in the same 
field, and a mouse were to stray between them, the hare 
would see it pass without interest — while the cat's blood 
would be on fire, every hair would bristle, and it would 
pounce upon it to devour it. The cat possesses a carnivo- 
rous instinct, of which the mouse is the external object, and 
hence the source of its interest. The hare wants that 
instinct, and hence its indifference. 

Every sane individual of the human race enjoys the same 
number of faculties, but each power is manifested by means 
of a particular portion of the brain, and acts with a degree 
of energy, other things being equal, corresponding to the 
size of that part. These parts or organs are combined in 
different relative proportions in different individuals. Hence, 
the individual in whom Combativeness and Destructiveness 
are the largest organs, desires to be a soldier ; he in whom 
Veneration, Hope, and Wonder are the largest, desires to 
be a minister of religion ; he in whom Constructiveness, 
Weight, and Form are largest, desires to be a mechanician ; 
and he in whom Constructiveness, Form, Colouring, Imita- 
tion, and Ideality predominate, is inspired with the love of 
painting. 

The Creator, by bestowing on all the race the same 
number of faculties, and giving similarity to their constitu- 
tion, has fitted them for forming one common family. In 
consequence of our common nature, we understand each 
other's instincts, desires, talents, and pursuits, and are 
prepared to act in concert ; while, by giving superiority in 
particular powers to particular individuals, he has effectually 
provided for variety of character and talent, and for the 
division of labour. 

The division of labour, therefore, is not an expedient 
devised by man's sagacity, but a direct result of his consti- 
tution ; exactly as it is in the case of any of the inferior 
animals which live in society and divide their duties without 
possessing the attribute of reason. When we discover 
differences of combination in size existing in the cerebral 
organs in different individuals, we receive another proof that 
man has been created expressly to live and act as a social 
being. 

When we compare the corporeal frames of different 
individuals, we find that they differ in stature, strength, and 



FORMATION OF SOCIETY. 165 

temperament ; some are strong, active, and energetic ; while 
others are feeble or sluggish. In a world in which the 
means of subsistence can be gained only by vigorous exertion, 
these differences alone would give rise to inferiority and 
superiority among individuals. But when we examine the 
brain, on which the mental qualities depend, we discover 
the differences between individuals, in regard to them, to 
be equally extensive and striking. In one man, the brain is 
large, the temperament is active, and the three regions of 
the animal, moral, and intellectual organs, are all favourably 
developed ; such a person is one of nature's nobility. He 
is endowed with native energy by his temperament, and 
mental power by his brain ; and he needs farther, only know- 
ledge, with a fair field of action, to attain the highest prizes 
which are offered by a bountiful Creator to human virtue, 
industry, and talent. Another individual has inherited from 
birth the lymphatic temperament, and is constitutionaily 
inert, or he has received a small brain, which is incapable 
of vigorous manifestations. In a scene where valuable 
objects can be attained only by capacity and energy, such a 
person must, of necessity, give place to him who has been 
favoured with higher endowments. A third individual, 
perhaps, has received several organs developed in a supe- 
rior degree, which fit him to acquire distinction in a parti- 
cular department of life ; but he is deficient in other organs, 
and is in consequence unfit to advance successfully in other 
walks. Such a man may, if he choose his vocation wisely 
in relation to his special endowments, assume a high station ; 
if unwisely, he may stand low in the scale of social consi- 
deration. These differences give rise to differences of rank. 
Gradations of rank being thus institutions of God, those 
men are wild enthusiastic dreamers, and not philosophers, 
who contemplate their abolition. This proposition, however, 
does not imply approval of artificial distinctions of rank, 
independent of natural endowments. These are the inven- 
tions of ignorant and selfish men ; they are paltry devices 
to secure, by means of parchments, the advantages of high 
rank, without the attributes which alone give a title to them 
under the laws of nature. As civilization and knowledge 
advance, these will be renounced as ridiculous, like the 
ponderous wigs, cocked hats, laced coats, and swords, of 
bygone centuries. It is unfortunate when a fool or rogue is 
the possessor of high rank and title ; for these attract tha 



166 FORMATION OF SOCIETY. 

respect of many to his foolish or vicious deeds, and to hi« 
erroneous opinions. 

The Creator has instituted still another cause of social 
differences. In this world, man has received only faculties, 
or mere powers and capacities, and external nature has 
been adapted to them ; but he has not been inspired with 
intuitive knowledge of the best manner of applying his 
powers or with information concerning the qualities and 
adaptations of external objects, but been left to find out 
these by the exercise of his reason. Now, if we suppose 
that of twenty men whose brains, temperament, and bodily 
constitution, are alike, ten have sedulously applied their 
faculties to study nature, and to discover her capabilities, 
while the other ten have sought only pleasure in trivial 
pursuits, it is obvious that in all social attainments the former 
will speedily surpass the latter. If both classes wished to 
build a house, you would find the observing and reflecting 
men in possession of the lever, the pulley, the hammer, the 
axe, and the saw ; while the hunters and the fishers would 
be pushing loads with their hands, or lifting them with their 
arms, and shaping timber with sharp-edged stones. In 
civilized society the same results appear. Any individual 
who has learned how to use his natural powers to the best 
advantage — in other words, who has acquired knowledge and 
skill — is decidedly superior to him who, although born with 
equal native talents, has never been taught the best method 
of applying them. 

When we view the gradation of ranks such as Nature 
intended it to be, it presents itself as an institution beneficial 
to all. The man who stands at the bottom of the scale, does 
so because he is actually lowest either in natural endow- 
ments or in acquired skill ; and in that lowest rank he 
enjoys advantages far more numerous than those he could 
command by his talents, if he stood alone. He derives 
many advantages from the superior abilities and acquirements 
of his fellow-men. In point of fact, an able-bodied, steady, 
and respectable labourer in Britian, is better clothed, better 
fed, and better lodged, than the chief of a savage tribe in 
New South Wales. 

I anticipate that it will be objected, that although this 
may be a correct exposition of the origin of gradations of 
ranks, and that although, if the principles now explained 
were alone allowed to determine the station of individuals, 



THE PAST CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 167 

none would have just cause of complaint, yet the practical 
result is widely different ; because weak, wicked, and indo- 
lent men, are often found in possession of the highest gifts 
of fortune and the loftiest pinnacles of rank ; while able, 
good, and enlightened individuals, stand low in the scale in 
regard to both. This subject is too extensive and important 
to be entered upon at this advanced hour, and I shall there- 
fore reserve it for our consideration in the next lecture. 



LECTURE IX. 



ON THE PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTIVE CONDITIONS OF 
SOCIETY. 

The question considered, Why are vicious or weak persons 
sometimes found prosperous, while the virtuous and talented 
enjoy no worldly distinction? — Individuals honoured and 
rewarded according as they display qualities adapted to the 
state of the society in which they live — Mankind hitherto 
animated chiefly by selfish faculties — Prospective improve- 
ment of the moral aspect of society — Retrospect of its 
previous conditions — Savage, pastoral, agricultural, and 
commercial stages ; and qualities requisite for the prosperity 
of individuals in each — Dissatisfaction of moral and intel- 
lectual minds with the present state of society — Increasing 
tendency of society to honour and reward virtue and intel- 
ligence — Artificial impediments to this — Hereditary titles 
and entails — Their bad effects — Pride of ancestry, rational 
and irrational — Aristocratic feeling in America and Europe 
— Means through which the future improvement of society 
may be expected — Two views of the proper objects of 
human pursuit ; one representing man's enjoyments as 
principally animal, and the other as chiefly moral and 
intellectual — The selfish faculties at present paramount in 
society — Consequences of this — Keen competition of indi- 
vidual interests, and its advantages and disadvantages — 
Present state of Britain unsatisfactory. 

In the last lecture we considered the origin of society, 
of the division of labour, and of differences of rank. I 
proceed to discuss an objection which may be urged against 
some of the views then stated — namely, that occasionally 
persons of defective moral principle, though of considera- 
ble talent, and, in other instances, weak and indolent men, 
are found in possession of high rank and fortune, while 
able, good, and enlightened individuals stand low in the 



168 THE PAST CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

scale of public honour. Let us endeavour to investigate 
the causes of this anomaly, and to inquire whether the evil 
admits of a remedy. 

Man is endowed with two great classes of faculties, so 
different in their nature, desires, and objects, that he ap- 
pears almost as two beings conjoined in one. I refer to 
the animal propensities and moral sentiments. The pro- 
pensities have all reference to self-sustenance, self-gratifica- 
tion, or self-aggrandizement, and do not give rise to a single 
feeling of disinterested love or regard for the happiness of 
other beings. Even the domestic affections, w T hen acting 
independently of the moral sentiments, prompt us to seek 
only a selfish gratification, without regard to the welfare of 
the beings who afford it. Examples of this kind may be 
met with, every day, in the seductions and temporary alli- 
ances of individuals of strong animal passions and deficient 
morality. We observe, also, that parents, in an ecstasy of 
fondness for their offspring, inspired by Philoprogenitive- 
ness, sometimes spoil them, and render them extremely 
miserable ; which is just indulging their own affections, 
without enlightened regard for the welfare of their objects. 
When Combativeness and Destructiveness are active, it is 
to assail other individuals, or to protect ourselves against 
their aggressions. When Acquisitiveness is pursuing its 
objects, the appropriation of property to ourselves is its aim. 
When Self-Esteem inspires us with its emotions, we are 
prompted to place ourselves, and our own interests and 
gratifications, first in all our considerations. When Love 
of Approbation is supremely active, we desire esteem, 
glory, praise, or advancement, as public acknowledgments 
of our own superiority over other men. Secretiveness and 
Cautiousness, from which arise savoir faire and circum- 
spection, are apt allies of all the selfish desires. 

The other class of faculties alluded to, is that of the 
moral sentiments, Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscien- 
tiousness ; these take a loftier, a more disinterested and 
beneficent range. Benevolence desires to diffuse universal 
happiness. It is not satisfied with mere self-enjoyments. 
As long as it sees a sentient being miserable, whom it 
could render happy, it desires to do so ; and its own satis- 
faction is not complete till that be accomplished. Venera- 
tion desires to invest with esteem, and treat with deference 
and respect, every human being who manifests virtue and 



THE PAST CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 160 

wisdom ; and to adore the Creator as the fountain of uni- 
versal perfection. Conscientiousness desires to introduce 
and maintain an all-pervading justice, a state of society in 
which the merits of the humblest individuals shall not be 
overlooked, but shall be appreciated and rewarded ; and in 
which the pretensions of the egotist and the ambitious shall 
be circumscribed within the limits of their real deserts. 

There are certain faculties which may be regarded as 
auxiliaries of these. Ideality desires to realize the perfect 
and the beautiful, in every object, and in every action. It 
longs for a world in which all things shall be fair, and lovely, 
and invested with the most perfect attributes of form, colour, 
action, and arrangement, and in which the human mind may 
manifest only dispositions in harmony with such a scene. 
Wonder desires the new and the untried, and serves to urge 
us forward in our career of improvement ; while the senti- 
ment of Hope smooths and gilds the whole vista of futurity 
presented to the mind's eye ; representing every desire as 
possible to be fulfilled and every good as attainable. j 

The intellectual faculties are the servants equally of both 
orders of faculties. Our powers of observation and reflec- 
tion may be employed in perpetrating the blackest crimes, 
or performing the most beneficent actions, according as they 
are directed by the propensities, or by the moral sentiments. 

We have seen, that among these faculties there are seve- 
ral which render man a social being ; and we find him, ac- 
cordingly, living in society, in all circumstances and stages 
of refinement. But, according as the ruling motives of a 
nation are deprived from the one class or the other, it is 
obvious that it will elevate very different characters to its 
highest places of honour and emolument. Where the selfish 
faculties have unbridled sway, rapine, fraud, tyranny, and 
violence prevail : on the other hand, a people in whom the 
moral sentiments are sufficiently vigorous, pursue private 
advantage with a constant respect to the rights of other 
men. In the former state of society, we should naturally 
expect to find selfish, ambitious, and unprincipled men, who 
are strong in mind and body, in possession of the highest 
rank and greatest wealth ; because, in the contention of 
pure selfishness, such qualities alone are fitted to succeed. 
In a society of men animated by the moral sentiments and 
intellect as their leading impulses, we should expect to find 
places of the highest honour and advantage occupied by the 
15 



170 THE PAST CONDITION OF SOCIETY, 

most intelligent and usefully active members of the com- 
munity ; because, in such a society, these qualities would be 
most esteemed. The former state of society characterizes 
all barbarous nations ; and the latter, which is felt by well- 
constituted minds to be the great object of human desire, 
has never been fully realized. By many, the idea of it is 
regarded as Utopian ; by others, its attainment is believed 
possible ; by all, it is admitted to be desirable. It is desired, 
because the moral sentiments exist, and because they in- 
stinctively long for the reign of peace, good will, refinement, 
and enjoyment, and are grieved by the suffering which so 
largely abounds in the present condition of humanity. 

The question is an important one, Whether man be des- 
tined to proceed, in this world, till the end of time, constantly 
desiring pure and moral constitutions, yet ever devoting him- 
self to inferior objects, and the unsatisfying labours of mis- 
directed selfishness, vanity, and ambition : or whether he 
will, at length, be permitted to realize his loftier conceptions 
and his best desires. 

The fact of the higher sentiments being constituent ele- 
ments of our nature, seems to warrant us in expecting an 
illimitable improvement in the condition of society. Unless 
our nature had been fitted to rise up to the standard which 
these faculties desire to reach, we may presume that they 
would not have been bestowed on us. They cannot have 
been intended merely to dazzle us with phantom illusions of 
purity, intelligence, and happiness, which we are destined 
for ever to pursue in vain. 

But what encouragement does experience afford for trust- 
ing that the future improvement of social arrangements will 
be such as to award rank only to merit ] Man is a pro- 
gressive being, and, in his social institutions, he ascends 
through the scale of his faculties, very much as an individual 
does in rising from infancy to manhood. In his social 
capacity he commences with institutions and pursuits related 
almost exclusively to the simplest of his animal instincts, 
and his most obvious intellectual perceptions. 

In their early condition, men are described by history as 
savages, wandering amid wide- spreading forests, or over 
extensive savannas, clothed in the skins of animals, drawing 
their chief subsistence from the chase, and generally waging 
bloody wars with their neighbours. This is the outward 
manifestation of feeble intellect and Constructiveness, of 



THE PAST CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 171 

dormant Ideality, very weak moral sentiments, and active 
propensities. The skulls of savage nations present indica- 
tions of a corresponding developement of brain.* In this 
condition there is little distinction of rank, except the supe- 
riority conferred on individuals by age, energy, or courage ; 
and there is no division of labour, or diversity of employ- 
ment, except that almost all painful and laborious duties are 
imposed on the women. All stand so near the bottom Of the 
scale, that there is yet scarcely place for social distinctions. 
In the next stage, we find men congregated into tribes, 
possessed of cattle, and assuming the aspect of a commu- 
nity, although still migratory in their habits. This state 
implies the possession of implements and utensils fabricated 
by means of ingenuity and industry ; also a wider range of 
social attachment, and so much of moral principle as to 
prompt individuals to respect the property of at least each 
other in their own tribe. This is the pastoral condition, 
and it proclaims an advance in the developement of Intel- 
lect, Constructiveness, Adhesiveness, and the Moral Senti- 
ments. In this stage, however, of the social progress, there 
is still a very imperfect manifestation of the moral and in- 
tellectual faculties. Neighbouring tribes are feared and 
hated ; Acquisitiveness, unenlightened by intellect, and un- 
directed by morality, desires to acquire wealth by plunder, 
rather than by industry ; and the intellectual faculties have 
not yet comprehended the advantages of manufactures and 
of commerce. In this stage, men regard neighbouring tribes 
as their natural enemies — make war on them, spoil their 
substance, murder their males, and carry their females and 
children into captivity. They conceive that they crown 
themselves with glory by these achievements. 

In such a state of society it is obvious that those indi- 
viduals who possess, in the highest degree, the qualities 
most useful to the community, and most esteemed accord- 
ing to their standard of virtue, will be advanced to the 
highest rank, with all its attendant advantages and honours. 
Accordingly, in such a condition, great physical strength, a 
large brain and active temperament, with predominating 
Combativeness, Destructiveness, Self-Esteem, Love of Ap- 
probation, and Firmness, will carry an individual to the rank 
* Strong evidence of this fact is presented in Dr. Morton's 
work on the character and crania of the native America^ 
Jndians. 



172 THE PAST CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

of a chief or leader of his countrymen, with a very limited 
portion of morality and reflecting intellect. 

The next step in the progress of mankind is, the agri- 
cultural condition ; and this implies a still higher evolution 
of intellect and moral sentiment. To sow in spring with a 
view of reaping in autumn, requires not only economy and 
prudence in preserving stores and stock, and the exercise 
of ingenuity in fabricating implements of husbandry, but a 
stretch of reflection embracing the whole intermediate period, 
and a subjugation of the impatient animal propensities to the 
intellectual powers. To ensure to him who sows, that he 
shall also reap, requires a general combination in defence of 
property, and a practical acknowledgment of the claims of 
justice, which indicate decided activity in the moral senti- 
ments. Accordingly, we discover that the brains of nations 
in this state are more highly developed in the moral and 
intellectual regions, than those of tribes who are still savage. 

In order to reach the highest rank in this stage of society, 
individuals must possess a greater endowment of reflecting 
intellect and moral sentiment, in proportion to their animal 
propensities, than was necessary to attain supremacy in the 
pastoral state. 

When nations become commercial, and devote themselves 
to manufactures, their pursuits demand the activity of still 
higher endowments, together with extensive knowledge of 
natural objects, and their relations and qualities. In this 
condition, we perceive arts and sciences extensively culti- 
vated ; processes of manufacture of great complexity, and 
extending over a long period of time, successfully conduct- 
ed ; extensive transactions between individuals, living often 
in different hemispheres, and who probably never saw each 
other personally, carried on with regularity, integrity, and 
despatch ; laws devised, regulating the rights and duties of 
individuals engaged in the most complicated transactions ; 
and this machinery moving, on the whole, with a smooth- 
ness and regularity which are truly admirable. Such a 
scene is a high manifestation of moral and intellectual power ; 
and man, contemplated in this condition, appears, for the first 
time, really like a rational being. Phrenology shows that 
the organs of the superior faculties develope themselves 
more fully in proportion to the advances of civilization, and 
that they are, de facto, largest in the most moral and en- 
lightened nations. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETV. 173 

This is the stage at which society has arrived in our day, 
in a great part of Europe, and in the United States of Ame- 
rica. In other parts of the globe the inferior conditions still 
appear. But even in the most advanced nations, the triumph 
of the rational portion of man's nature is not complete. Our 
institutions, manners, desires, and aspirations, still partake, 
to a great extent, of the characteristics of the propensities. 
Wars from motives of aggrandizement or ambition, cruel 
laws, artificial restrictions calculated to maintain certain 
classes in possession of power and advantages to the ex- 
clusion of others, inordinate love of wealth, overweening 
ambition, and many other inferior desires, still flourish in 
vigour among us. In such a state of society it is impossi- 
ble that the virtuous and intelligent alone should reach the 
highest pinnacles of fortune. 

In Britain, that individual is fitted to be most successful 
in the career of wealth and its attendant advantages, who 
possesses vigorous health, industrious habits, great selfish- 
ness, a powerful intellect, and just so much of the moral 
feelings as to serve for the profitable direction of his animal 
powers. This combination of endowments would render 
self-aggrandizement and worldly-minded prudence the leading 
motives of his actions ; would furnish intellect sufficient to 
give them effect, and morality adequate to restrain them 
from abuses, and from defeating their own gratifications. A 
person so constituted feels his faculties to be in harmony 
with his external condition : he has no lofty aspirations after 
either goodness or enjoyment which he cannot realize ; he 
is satisfied to dedicate his undivided energies to the active 
business of life, and he is generally successful. He acquires 
wealth and distinction, stands high in the estimation of soci- 
ety, transmits comfort and abundance to his family, and dies 
in a good old age. 

His mind, however, obviously does not belong to the high- 
est class ; yet, being in harmony with external circumstances, 
and little annoyed by the imperfections which are every- 
where to be seen, it is one of that class which alone in the 
present social condition of Britain are reasonably happy and 
successful. This happens, because we are in that stage of 
our moral and intellectual progress which corresponds with 
the supremacy of the above-mentioned combination of facul- 
ties. In savage times, the rude, athletic warrior was the 
chief of his tribe ; and he was also, probably, the most happy, 
15* 



174 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

because he possessed, in the greatest degree, the qualities 
necessary for success in his circumstances, and was deficient 
in all the feelings which could not, in them, obtain gratifica- 
tion. If he had possessed Benevolence, Ideality, Venera- 
tion, and Conscientiousness largely developed, he would 
have been unhappy, by the aspirations which they would 
have introduced into his mind, after higher objects and con- 
ditions than he could realize. The same rule holds good 
in our own case. Those individuals who have either too 
little of the selfish propensities or too much of the moral 
feelings, are neither successful nor happy in the present 
state of British society. The former cannot successfully 
maintain their ground in the great struggle for property 
which is going on around them ; while the latter, although 
they may be able to keep their places in the competition for 
wealth, are constantly grieved by the misery and imperfec- 
tion which they are compelled to witness, but cannot remove. 
They have the habitual consciousness, also, that they are 
labouring for the mere means of enjoyment, without ever 
reaching enjoyment itself ; and that their lives are spent, 
as it were, in a feverish dream. 

In these examples we observe, that society has been slowly 
but regularly advancing, so as more and more to elevate 
virtue and intelligence to public honour. The impediments 
to a just reward of individual merit do not, therefore, appear 
to be inherent in human nature, but contingent. There are, 
however, artificial impediments to the accomplishment of 
this end. Among these are hereditary titles of honour. 

The feudal kings of Europe early acquired, or assumed, 
the power of conferring titles of honour and dignity on 
men of distinguished qualities, as a mark of approbation of 
their conduct, and as a reward for their services to the state. 
To the conferring of a title of honour upon the man who 
has done an important service to his country, reason and 
morality have nothing to object. Hence arose the institu- 
tion of individual nobles. The favoured peer, however, 
naturally loved his offspring ; and without considering any 
consequences beyond his own gratification, he induced the 
king to add a right of succession, in favour of his children, 
to the honours and privileges conferred on himself for his 
me .its. We now know that if he himself had really been 
one of Natare's nobility, and if he had allied himself to a 
partner also possessing high qualities of brain and general 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 175 

constitution, and if the two had lived habitually in accor- 
dance with the natural laws, he would have transmitted his 
natural nobility to his children ; and they, having the stamp 
of Nature's honour on them, would have needed no patent 
from an earthly sovereign to maintain them in their father's 
rank. But this law of Nature being unknown, or the noble, 
perhaps, having attained to distinction by one or two distin- 
guished qualities merely, which were much in demand in 
his own day, and being still deficient in many high endow- 
ments ; or having, from passion, love of wealth, ambition, 
or some other unworthy motive, married an inferior partner, 
he is conscious that he cannot rely on his children inheriting 
natural superiority, and he therefore desires to preserve to 
them for ever, by artificial means, the rank, wealth, titles, 
and power, which he has acquired, and which Nature in- 
tended to be the rewards solely of superior endowments. 
The king grants to the children a right of succession to the 
titles, rank, and dignity, and parliament authorizes the father 
to place his estates under entail ; by which means his heirs 
in succession, however profligate, imbecile, and unworthy 
of honour and distinction, continue to hold the highest rank 
in society, to exercise the privilege of hereditary legislation, 
and to draw the revenues of immense estates, which they 
may squander, or devote to the most immoral of purposes. 
In these instances legislators have directly contradicted 
Nature. All this, you will perceive, is following out the 
principle, that individual aggrandizement is the great object 
of each successive occupant of this world. The attempts, 
however, are not successful. They are productive, often, 
of misery, as every one knows who has observed the wretched 
condition in which many nobles and heirs of entail exist, 
whose profligacy and imbecility render them unfit for their 
artificial station. 

In regard to society at large, the result of such a practice 
is, that a false standard of consideration is set up, and the 
respect and admiration of the people are frequently directed 
to ridiculous customs sanctioned by nobles, and to other 
unworthy objects. Besides, it presents false objects of 
ambition to the industrious class of all grades. In propor- 
tion as one of them attains wealth, instead of devoting it, 
and the talents by means of which it was acquired, to the 
improvement and elevation of the class from which he has 
sprung, he becomes ashamed of it, is fired with the ambition 



176 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

of being created a noble, and is generally found wielding 
his whole energies, natural and acquired, in the ranks of 
the aristocracy against the people. If the distinctions in- 
stituted by Nature were left to operate by themselves, the 
effect would be, that the people at large would venerate in 
others, and desire themselves to become distinguished for, 
those qualities which are esteemed most highly according to 
their own moral and intellectual perceptions ; the standard 
of consideration would be rectified and raised in proportion 
to their advance in knowledge and wisdom ; and the removal 
of the obstruction to this advance, created by artificial and 
hereditary rank, would tend greatly to hasten the march of 
real improvement. 

We are told that, in the United States of America, where 
no distinct class of nobility exists, aristocratic feelings, and 
all the pride of ancestry, are at least as rampant as in Eng- 
land, where the whole framework of society is constituted 
in reference to the ascendency of an ancient and powerful 
aristocracy ; and I see no reason to doubt the statement. 
Difference of rank was instituted when the Creator bestowed 
different degrees and combinations of the mental organs on 
different men, and rendered them all improvable by educa- 
tion. It is natural, rational, and beneficial, therefore, to 
esteem and admire Nature's nobility ; men greatly gifted 
with the highest qualities of our nature, who have duly 
cultivated and applied them. The Creator, also, in confer^ 
ring on man the power to transmit his qualities and condition 
to his offspring, by means of his organization, has laid the 
foundation for our admiration of a long line of illustrious 
ancestors ; because this direction of ambition may become 
a strong assistant to morality and reason, in inducing men 
to attend to the organic laws in their matrimonial alliances, 
and in their general conduct through life. According to 
the doctrines expounded in a previous lecture, if two persons, 
both in possession of high mental and bodily qualities, were 
to marry, to observe the natural laws during their lives, to 
rear a family, and to train them also to yield steady obedi- 
ence to these laws in their conduct — the result would be, 
that the children would inherit the superior qualities of their 
parents, hold the same high rank in the estimation of society, 
. be prosperous in life, and, in short, be specimens of human 
nature in its best form and condition. If these children 
observe the organic laws in their marriages, and obeyed 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 177 

them in their lives, the tendency of nature would be still to 
transmit, in an increasing ratio, their excellent endowments 
ta their children ; and their is no ascertained limit to this 
series. It would be a just gratification to Self-Esteem, to 
belong fco a family which could boast of a succession of noble 
men and women, descending through ten or twelve genera- 
tions ; and it would be an object of most legitimate ambition 
to be admitted to the honour and advantages of an alliance 
with it. This is the direction which the natural sentiments 
of family pride and admiration of ancestry will take, when- 
ever the public intellect is enlightened concerning the laws 
of our constitution. In times past, we have seen these two 
sentiments acting as blindly and perniciously as Veneration 
does, when, in the absence of all true knowledge, it expends 
itself in preposterous superstitions. It, however, is always 
performing its proper function of venerating, and is ready 
to take a better direction when it receives illumination; 
and the same will hold good with the two feelings in ques- 
tion. 

At a time when war and rapine were the distinguishing 
occupations of nobles, men were proud of their descent from 
a great warrior, perhaps a border chieftain, who was really 
only a thief and a robber on a great scale. At present, great 
self-congratulation is experienced by many individuals, be- 
cause they are descended from a family which received a 
patent of nobility five hundred years ago, and -has been main- 
tained, since that time, by means of entails, in possession of 
immense wealth, although during that period their annals may 
have commemorated as many profligates, imbeciles, and 
idiots, as wise and virtuous men. Many commoners, also, 
who have inherited sound brains and respectable characters 
from their own obscure but excellent ancestors, are ashamed 
of their humble birth, and proud of an alliance with this 
illustrious but immoral and imbecile stock. But all this is 
the result of gross misdirection of Veneration and Love of 
Approbation, which increasing knowledge will assuredly 
correct. It indicates an infatuation of vanity, compared 
with which, wearing bones in the nose, and tatooing the skin, 
are harmless and respectable customs. If, in a country like 
Britain, a family has preserved property and high rank for 
several generations, without a patent of nobility, and with- 
out entails, its members must have possessed, through suc- 
cessive generations, sound practical understandings and 



178 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

respectable morality ; and they are, therefore, really worthy 
of respect : and the fact that there are several (perhaps I 
might say many) such families, is a proof that artificial 
hereditary rank and entails are merely imperfect devices for 
accomplishing ends which can be attained effectually and 
beneficially by natural means alone. 

It forms no argument against these views, that in America 
there is as jealous a distinction of ranks, and as strong an 
admiration of ancestry, as in Britain ; because these feelings 
are admitted to be natural, while it is certain that the mass 
of American society is not more enlightened in regard to 
their proper direction, than our own countrymen. The 
founders of the American republic, however, were great and 
enlightened men, and they conferred a boon of the highest 
value on their posterity, when, by prohibiting artificial here- 
ditary ranks and titles, they withdrew the temptations to 
misdirected ambition which they naturally present. 

We thus account for the fact, that the best of men do 
not always attain the highest stations and richest social re- 
wards, first, by the circumstance of society being progres- 
sive, of its being yet only in an early stage of its career, 
and of its honouring in every stage those qualities which it 
prizes most highly at the time, although they may be low 
in the real scale of moral and intellectual excellence ; and 
secondly, by the impediments to a right adjustment of social 
honours presented by the institution of artificial and heredi- 
tary rank. 

It is an interesting inquiry, whether society is destined 
to remain for ever in its present state, or in some one ana- 
logous to it, or to advance to a more perfect condition of 
intelligence, morality, and happiness ; and if the latter be a 
reasonable expectation, by what means its future improve- 
ment is to be accomplished. In considering these questions, 
I shall attempt to dissect and represent, with some minute- 
ness, the principles which chiefly characterize our present 
social condition, and compare them with our faculties as 
revealed by the physiology of the brain. We shall, by 
this means, discover to what class of our faculties our exist- 
ing institutions are most directly related. If they gratify 
our highest powers, we may regard ourselves as having 
approached the limits of that perfection permitted by our 
nature ; if they do not gratify these, we may hope ftill tg 
a^yance. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 179 

There are two views of human nature, both of which are 
plausible and may be supported by many facts and arguments. 
The first is, that man is essentially a mere superior animal, 
destined to draw his chief enjoyments from a regulated 
activity of his animal nature. I do not mean his mere sen- 
sual appetites* but the whole class of faculties common to 
him and the inferior creatures, and which have individual 
interests for their object. Life, for example, may be re- 
garded as given to us that we may enjoy the pleasures of 
sense, of rearing a family, of accumulating wealth, of ac- 
quiring distinction, and also of gratifying the intellect and 
imagination by literature, science, and the arts. According 
to this view, self-interest and individual aggrandizement 
would be the leading motives of all sensible men during life ; 
and the moral faculties would be used chiefly to control and 
direct these selfish propensities in seeking their gratifications, 
so as to prevent them from unduly injuring their neighbours, 
and endangering their own prosperity. There would be no 
leading moral object in life ; our enjoyments would not 
necessarily depend on the happiness and prosperity of our 
fellow-men ; and the whole duty of the higher sentiments 
would be to watch and direct the lower. 

The other view is, that man is essentially a rational and 
moral being, destined to draw his chief happiness from the 
pursuit of objects directly related to his moral and intel- 
lectual faculties, the propensities acting merely as the ser- 
vants of the sentiments, to maintain and assist them while 
pursuing their high and beneficent objects. History repre- 
sents man, in past ages, as having been ever in the former 
condition ; either openly pursuing the gratification of the 
propensities, as the avowed and only object of life, or merely 
curbing them so far as to enable him to obtain higher satis- 
faction from them, but never directly pursuing moral ends 
as the chief object of his existence. This is also our present 
condition. 

Even in civilized communities, each individual who is not 
born to hereditary fortune, enters into a vivid competition 
for wealth, power, and distinction, with all who move in his 
own sphere. Life is spent in one incessant struggle. We 
initiate our children into the system at the very dawn of 
their intelligence. We place them in classes at school, and 
offer them marks of merit and prizes to stimulate their am- 
bition ; and we estimate their attainments, not according to 



180 THE PRESENT CONDITION OP SOCIETT. 

the extent of useful knowledge which they have gained, bat 
according to the place which they hold in relation to their 
fellows. It is proximity to being dux which is the grand dis- 
tinction, and this implies the marked inferiority of all below 
the successful competitor. 

On entering into the business of life, the same system is 
pursued. The manufacturer taxes his invention and his 
powers of application to the utmost, that he may outstrip his 
neighbours in producing better and cheaper commodities, 
and reaping a greater profit than they ; the trader keeps his 
shop open earlier and later, and promises greater bargains 
than his rival, that he may attract customers. If a house 
is to be built, or a steam-engine fitted up, a specification, or 
a minute description of the object wanted, is drawn up ; 
copies are handed to a number of tradesmen ; they make 
offers to execute it at a certain sum : and the lowest offerer 
is preferred. The extent of difference in these offers is 
enormous. I was one of several public commissioners, who 
received offers for building a bridge ; the highest of which 
was £21,036, and the lowest £13,749. Of six offers which 
I once received for building a house, the highest was £1975, 
and the lowest £1500. I have seen differences equally great 
for machinery and works of various kinds. I have made in- 
quiries to ascertain whence these differences arose, and found 
them accounted for by the following causes : — Sometimes 
an offer is made by a tradesman who knows himself to be 
insolvent, who, therefore, has nothing to lose, but who is 
aware that this state of his affairs is not publicly known, so 
that his credit is still good. As long as he can go on in 
trade, he has the means of supporting and educating his 
family, and every year passed in accomplishing this object is 
so much gained. He cam keep his trade in motion only by 
obtaining a regular succession of employment, and he secures 
this by underbidding every man who has a shilling of capi- 
tal. Bankruptcy is the inevitable end of this career, and the 
men who have property ultimately sustain the loss arising 
from his unjust and pernicious system ; but it serves his 
purpose for a time, and this is all that he regards. Another, 
and a more legitimate, cause of low bidding is the reverse 
of this. A trader has accumulated capital, and buys every 
article at the cheapest rate with ready money ; he is fru- 
gal, and spends little in his family ; he is active and sharp 
in his habits and temper, and exacts a gr-eat deal of labour 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 181 

from his workmen in return for their wages. By these three 
circumstances combined, he is enabled to underbid every 
rival who is inferior to him in any one of them. I am in- 
formed that the difference in the cost of production to a 
master tradesman thus qualified, compared with one in dif- 
ferent circumstances and of different dispositions, is equal to 
15 or 20 per cent. 

Viewed On the principle that the object of life is self- 
aggrandizement, all this order of proceeding appears to be 
proper and profitable. But if you trace out the moral effects 
of it, they will be found extremely questionable. 

The tendency of the system is to throw an accumulating 
burden of mere labour on the industrious classes. I am 
told that in some of the great machine manufactories in the 
west of Scotland, men labour for sixteen hours a day, sti- 
mulated by additions to their wages in proportion to the 
quantity of work which they produce. Masters who push 
trade on a great scale, exact the most energetic and long- 
continued exertion from all the artisans whom they employ. 
In such circumstances, man becomes a mere labouring ani- 
mal. Excessive muscular exertion drains off nervous energy 
from the brain ; and when labour ceases sleep ensues, unless 
the artificial stimulus of intoxicating liquors be applied, as 
it generally is in such instances^ to rouse the dormant mental 
organs and confer a temporary enjoyment. To call a man, 
who passes his life in such a routine of occupation — eating, 
sleeping, labouring, and drinking — a Christian, an immortal 
being, preparing, by his exertions here, for an eternity here- 
after, to be passed in the society of pure, intelligent, and 
blessed spirits — is a complete mockery. He is preparing 
for himself a premature grave, in which he shall be laid, 
exhausted with toil and benumbed in all the higher attributes 
of his nature, more like a jaded and ill-treated horse than a 
human being. Yet this system pervades every department 
of practical life in these islands. If a farm be advertised 
to be let, tenants compete with each other in bidding high 
rents, which, when carried to excess, can be paid only by 
their converting themselves and their servants into labouring 
animals, bestowing on the land the last effort of their strength 
and skill, and resting satisfied with very little enjoyment 
from it in return. 

By the competition of individual interests, directed to the 
acquisition of property and the attainment of distinction, the 
16 



182 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

f 

practical members of society are not only powerfully stimu- 
lated to exertion, but actually forced to submit to a most 
jading, laborious, and endless course of toil ; in whichneither 
time, opportunity, nor inclination, is left for the cultivation 
-and enjoyment of the higher powers of the mind. 

The whole order and institutions of society are framed in 
harmony with this principle. The law prohibits men from 
using force and fraud in order to acquire property, but sets 
no limits to their employment of all other means. Our 
education and mode of transacting mercantile business 
support the same system of selfishness. It is an approved 
maxim, that secrecy is the soul of trade ; and each manu- 
facturer and merchant pursues his speculations secretly, so 
that his rivals may know as little as possible of the kind and 
quantity of goods which he is manufacturing, of the sources 
whence he draws his materials, or the channels by which he 
disposes of his produce. The direct advantage of this 
system is, that it confers a supeiiority on the man of acute 
and extensive observation and profound sagacity. He con- 
trives to penetrate many of the secrets which are attempted, 
though not very successfully, to be kept ; and he directs 
his own trade and manufacture, not always according to the 
current in which his neighbours are floating, but rather 
according to the results which he foresees will take place 
from the course which they are following ; and then the days 
of their adversity become those of his prosperity. The 
general effect of the system, however, is, that each trader 
stretches his capital, his credit, his skill, and his industry, to 
produce the utmost possible quantity of goods, under the 
idea, that the more he manufactures and sells, the more 
profit he will reap. But as all his neighbours are animated 
by the same spirit, they manufacture as much as possible 
also ; and none of them know certainly how much the other 
traders in their own line are producing, or how much of the 
commodity in which they deal the public will really want, 
pay for, and consume, within any specific time. The con- 
sequence is, that a superfluity of goods is produced, the 
market is glutted, prices fall ruinously low — and all the 
manufacturers who have proceeded on credit, or who have 
limited capital, become bankrupt, and the effects of their 
rash speculations fall on their creditors. They are, however, 
excluded from trade for a season — the other manufacturers 
restrict their operations, the operatives are thrown idle, or 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIET7. 183 

their wages are greatly reduced. The surplus commodities 
are at length consumed, demand revives, prices rise, and the 
rush toward production again takes place ; and thus in all 
trades the pendulum oscillates, generation after generation, 
first toward prosperity, then to the equal balance, then 
toward adversity— -back again to equality, and once more to 
prosperity. 

The ordinary observer perceives in this system what he 
considers to be the natural, the healthy, and the inevitable 
play of the constituent elements of human nature. He dis- 
covers many advantages attending it, and some evils ; but 
these he regards as inseparable from all that belongs to 
mortal man. The competition of individual interests, for 
example, he assures us, keeps the human energies alive, and 
stimulates all to the highest exercise of the bodily and 
mental powers ; and the result is, that abundance of every 
article that man needs is poured into the general treasury 
of civilized life, even to superfluity. We are all interested, 
he continues, in cheap production ; and although we appa- 
rently suffer by an excessive reduction in the prices of our 
own commodities, the evil is transitory, and the ultimate 
effect is unmixed good, for all our neighbours are running 
the same career of over-production with ourselves. While 
we are reducing our shoes to a ruinously low priee, the stock- 
ing-maker is doing the same with his stockings, and the hat- 
maker with his hats ; and after we all shall have exchanged 
article for article, we shall still obtain as many pairs of 
stockings, and as many hats, for any given quantity of shoes, 
as ever ; so that the real effect of competition is to render 
the nation richer, and to enable it to maintain more inhabi- 
tants, or to provide for those it possesses more abundantly, 
without rendering any individuals poorer. The evils attend- 
ing the rise and fall of fortune, the heartbreaking scenes of 
bankruptcy, and the occasional degradation of one family 
and elevation of another, they regard as storms in the moral, 
corresponding to those in the physical, world ; which, al- 
though inconvenient to the individuals whom they over 
take, are, on the whole, beneficial, by stirring and purifying 
the atmosphere : and, regarding this life as a mere pilgrim- 
age to a better, they view these incidental misfortunes as 
means of preparation for a higher sphere. 

This representation has so much of actual truth in it, and 
such an infinite plausibility, that it is almost adventurous in 



184 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

me to question its soundness ; yet I am forced to do so, or 
to give up my best and brightest hope of human nature and 
its destinies. In making these remarks, of course I blame 
no individuals ; it is the system which I condemn. Indi- 
viduals are as much controlled by the social system in which 
they live, as a raft is by the current in which it floats. 

In all the systems which I have described, you will dis- 
cover no motives, higher than those furnished by the pro- 
pensities regulated by justice, animating the competing 
members of society in their evolutions. The grand object 
of each is to gain as much wealth, and, as its consequence, 
as much power and distinction to himself as possible : he 
pursues this object without any direct regard to his neigh- 
bour's interest or welfare ; and no high moral or intellec- 
tual aim elevates, ennobles, or adorns his career. The first 
effect is, that he dedicates his whole powers and energies 
to the production of the mere means of living, and he forces 
all his fellows to devote their lives to precisely the same 
pursuits. If leisure for moral and intellectual cultivation 
be necessary to the enjoyment of a rational, a moral, and a 
religious being, this is excluded ; for the labour is incessant 
during six days of the week, and the effect of this is to 
benumb his faculties on the seventh. If the soft play of 
the affections ; if the enjoyment of the splendid loveliness 
of nature and the beauties of art ; if the expansion of the 
intellect in the pursuits of science ; if refinement of man- 
ners ; if strengthening and improving the tone and forms 
of our physical frames ; and if the adoration, with minds 
full of knowledge and souls melted with love, of our most 
bounteous Creator, constitute the real objects of human life 
in this world, the end for which we live ; and if the fulfill 
ment of this end be the only rational idea of preparation for 
a higher state of existence ; then the system of action which 
we have contemplated, when viewed as the leading object 
of human life, appears stale, barren, and unprofitable. It 
no doubt supports the activity of our minds and bodies, and 
surrounds us with innumerable temporal advantages, not to 
be lightly valued ; but its benefits end here. It affords an 
example of the independence of the sevefal natural laws. 
The system is one in which the mind and body are devoted 
for ten or twelve hours a day, on six days in the week, to 
the production of those useful and ornamental articles which 
constitute wealth ; and in this end we are eminently sue* 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 185 

cessful. Verily we have our reward ; fu* no nation in the 
world possesses so much wealth as Britain ; none displays 
such vast property in the possession of individuals of every 
rank ; none approaches her in the general splendour of 
living ; and none in the multitude of inhabitants who live 
in idleness and luxury on the accumulated fruits of industry. 
But still, with all the dazzling advantages which Britain de- 
rives from her wealth, she is very far from being happy. 
Her large towns are overrun with pauperism and heathen- 
ism ; and in many English counties, even the agricultural 
population has lately been engaged in burning corn-stacks 
and farm-offices, out of sheer misery and discontent. The 
overwrought manufacturers are too frequently degraded by 
intemperance, licentiousness, and other forms of vice. In 
the classes distinguished by industry and morality, the keen 
competition for employment and profit imposes excessive 
labour and anxiety on nearly all ; while the higher classes 
are often the victims of idleness, vanity, anbition, vice, ennui, 
and a thousand attendant sufferings of body and mind. The 
pure, calm, dignified, and lasting felicity which our higher 
feelings pant for, and which reason whispers ought to be our 
aim, is seldom or never attained. 

The present condition of society, therefore, does not seem 
to be the most perfect which human nature is capable of 
reaching ; hitherto man has been progressive, and there is 
no reason to believe that he has yet reached the goal. In 
the next lecture will be stated some grounds for expecting 
brighter prospects in future. 



18* 



186 



LECTURE X. 

THE CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE 
CONDITION OF SOCIETY CONTINUED. 

Additional examples of bad results of competition of individual 
interests — Disadvantages attending the division of labour — 
Difficulty of benefiting one individual without injuring others 
— Instance of charitable institutions — Question, Whether 
the destruction of human life or of corn is the greater public 
calamity — State of the Irish peasantry — Impediments to 
the abandonment of luxuries by the rich— The leading ar- 
rangements of society at present bear reference to self- 
interest — Christianity cannot become practical while this 
continues to be the case — Does human nature admit of such 
improvement, that the evils of individual competition may 
be obviated, and the moral sentiments rendered supreme ? 
— Grounds for hope — Natural longing for a more perfect 
social condition — Schemes of Plato, SirT. More, the Primi- 
tive Christians, the Harmonites, and Mr. Owen. 

I proceed to point out some additional examples of the 
results of the competition of individual interests. 

Apparently, the evils of the selfish system have the ten- 
dency to prolong and extend themselves indefinitely. We 
have seen, for example, that the institution of different em- 
ployments is natural, springing from differences in native 
talent and inclination. This leads to the division of labour, 
by which every person has it in his power to confine his 
exertions to that species of art for which he has the great- 
est aptitude and liking ; while 1 , by interchanging commodi- 
ties, all become richer. But, under the present system, this 
institution is attended with considerable disadvantages. 
"Workmen are trained to perform the minutest portions of 
labour on a particular article, and to do nothing else : one 
man can point a pin, and do no more ; another can make 
the pin's head, but finish no other part of it ; one man can 
make the eye of a needle, but can neither fashion the body 
nor point it. In preparing steam-engines, there are now 
even different branches of trade, and different workshops 
for the different parts. One person makes boilers, another 
casts the frame-work and heavy iron beams, a third makes 
cylinders, a fourth pistons, and so on ; and the person who 
furnishes steam-engines to the public, merely goes to these 
different workshops, buys the different parts of the skeleton, 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 187 

and his own trade consists in fitting them together, and 
selling the engine entire. 

These arrangements produce commodities better and 
cheaper, than if one man made the whole needle or pin, or one 
manufactory fabricated the whole steam-engine ; but there is 
an attendant disadvantage, when we view the system in its 
moral effects. It rears an immense number of industrious 
men, who are utterly ignorant, except of the minute details of 
their own small department of art, and who are altogether use- 
less and helpless, except when combined under one employer. 
If not counteracted in its effects by an extensive education, 
it renders the workmen incapable of properly discharging 
their duties as parents, or members of society, by leaving 
them ignorant of everything except their narrow department 
of trade. It leaves them also exposed, by ignorance, to 
become the dupes of political agitators and fanatics, and 
renders them dependent on the capitalist Trained from 
infancy to a minute operation, their mental culture neglect- 
ed, and destitute of capital, they are incapable of exer- 
cising sound judgment on any subject, and of combining 
their labour and their skill for the promotion of their own 
advantage. They are, therefore, the mere implements of 
trade in the hands of men of more enlarged minds and 
more extensive property ; and as these men also compete 
keenly, talent against talent, and capital against capital, 
each of them is compelled to throw back a part of the 
burden on his artisans, demanding more labour, and giving 
less wages, to enable him to maintain his own position. * 

Nor does the capitalist escape the evils of the system. In 
consequence of manufacturer competing with manufacturer, 
and merchant with merchant, who will execute most work, 
and sell his goods cheapest, profits fall extremely low, and 
the rate of interest, which is just the proportion of profit 
corresponding to the capital employment in trade, becomes 
depressed. The result is, that the artisan's wages are lowered 
to the verge of a decent subsistence, earned by his utmost 

* I confine the observations in the text to the case of mecha- 
nics who are uneducated. If they receive a good education, 
the more monotonous their employment is, they have the more 
spare energy for thought. Weavers who have once entered on 
reading, generally become intelligent, for their labour absorbs 
a small portion of mind ; but if they have not been educated 
at all, they become dull and stupid, or unsettled and vicious. 



p8 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

exertions ; the manufacturer and merchant are exposed to 
incessant toil and risk, and are moderately recompensed ; 
and the capitalist, who desires to retire from active business, 
and ljr# on the produce of his previous industry, in the form 
of interest, participates in their depression, and starves on 
the smallest pittance of annual return. Thus, selfish com- 
petition presents the anomaly of universal abundance co- 
existing with individual want, and a ceaseless struggle to 
obtain objects fitted chiefly to gratify our inferior powers. 

While the competition of individual interests continues 
to be the rule in society, the field even of benevolence itself 
is greatly limited. It becomes extremely difficult to do good 
to one individual, or class of individuals, without doing an 
equal injury to others. Nothing, for example, can at first 
sight appear more meritorious and beneficial, than the in- 
stitution of such charitable endowments as that of Heriot's 
Hospital, or the hospitals founded by the two Watsons, of 
this city ; in which children of decayed or deceased parents, 
belonging to the industrious classes, are educated, provided 
for, and set out in life. Yet objections to them have been 
stated on very plausible grounds. According to the princi- 
ples which I have endeavoured to expound in the preceding 
lectures, children do not, in general, become destitute, except 
in consequence of great infringement of one or more of 
the natural laws by their parents. If the parents died pre- 
maturely, they must, in most cases, (for accidents will happen, 
even with the utmost care,) have inherited feeble constitu- 
tions, or disobeyed, in their own conduct, the organic laws ; 
and the destitution of their children is the natural punish- 
ment of these offences. If the father have b*?en in trade, 
have failed, and fallen into poverty, he must have been de- 
ficient in some of the qualities cohabits necessary for success, 
and his destitution is the natural consequence! of these 
deficiencies. Now, amid the competition of individual in- 
terests, there is always a considerable number of meritori- 
ous persons, who, with great difficulty, are able to maintain 
themselves and their fami'ies in the station in which they 
were born, and who succeed in doing so, and in educating 
their children, only by submitting to incessant toil and great 
sacrifices of their own enjoyments. I have heard such 
persons make remarks like the following : " Do you see that 
young man? he was educated in Heriot's Hospital, and, 
by the influence of the managers of that institution, was 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 189 

received as an apprentice into a thriving mercantile esta- 
blishment, into which I had in vain endeavoured to get one 
of my sons introduced. He is now head-clerk. Well ! 
benevolence is not always justice : that boy's father was 
sporting his horse and gig, and living like a gentleman, while 
I was toiling and saving ; he fell from his gig and broke his 
neck, when he had drunk too much wine. At his death, his 
affairs were found to be in bankruptcy ; but he had good 
friends ; his children were taken into the hospitals, and here 
you see the end of it; his boy comes out of the hospital 
better educated than my sons, and, supported by the influ- 
ence of the managers, he prevents mine from getting into 
a good situation, by stepping into it himself: this, I say, 
may be benevolence, but it is not justice." This is not an 
imaginary dialogue ; I have heard the argument stated again 
and again, and I could never see a satisfactory answer to it. 
It would be crulty to abandon the children, even of the 
victims of such misconduct as is here described, to want, 
crime, and misery ; yet surely there must be some defect 
in the leading principle of our social institutions, when a 
benevolent provision for them reallv has the effect of ob- 
structing the path and hindering the prosperity of the children 
of more meritorious individuals. 

I have heard this line of argument pushed still farther. 
An acute reasoner often maintained in my presence, that 
if one hundred unmarried men and one thousand quarters 
of wheat were both in one ship, the loss of the men would 
be no public evil, while the loss of the wheat would be a 
real one. He maintained his position by arguing that in this 
country the competition for employment is so great, that the 
removal of one hundred individuals from any branch of labour 
would only benefit those who were left, by rendering the 
competition less arduous and their remuneration greater ; 
whereas the loss of one thousand quarters of wheat would 
necessarily lead to diminution of the diet of a certain num- 
ber of the poorest of the people. All the wheat which we 
possess, he said, is annually consumed ; if it be abundant, it 
is cheap, and the poor get a larger share : if it be scarce, it is 
dear, and the deficiency falls upon the poor exclusively : the 
loss even of one thousand quarters, therefore, would have 
stinted the poor, it may be only to a fractional, but still to a 
real extent, sufficient to establish the principle contended for ; 
sp that, continued my friend, British society is actually in 



190 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

that condition in which the loss of food is a greater public 
calamity than the loss of men. 

This argument appears to me to be sound in principle, 
although wire-drawn. The answer to it is, that our benevo- 
lent feelings, which, although obstructed under the selfish 
system, are not extinguished, would receive so much pain 
from seeing one hundred human beings deprived of the plea- 
sures of existence, that even the poor would cheerfully 
sacrifice many meals, to contribute to their preservation. If 
the events are contemplated apart from the pain or gratifica- 
tion which our benevolent feelings experience from them, 
and if the amount, of good and evil, not to the one hundred 
sufferers, but to the community at large, be solely regarded, 
the loss of men, in a country like this, does appear a smaller 
misfortune than the loss of food. Ireland affords a striking 
illustration. The purest philanthropist will confess, that a 
destroying angel, who in one night should slay a million of 
human beings, men, women, and children, in that country, 
would occasion infinitely less suffering, than would arise from 
any considerable deficiency in their potato crop.* I see it 
mentioned in the newspapers, that at this moment (June 
1835) the peasantry in the west of Ireland are suffering all 
the horrors of famine through failure of their potato crop. 
Although corn is abundant, and is daily exported to Eng- 
land, they are too poor to purchase it. The Irish peasantry, 
habitually on the brink of starvation, and exposed to the 
greatest destitution, stand at one end of the agricultural scale, 
and the great landed proprietors of England, with revenues 
of .£100,000 per annum, and rolling in every kind of luxury, 

* There is more of benevolent arrangement in the tendency 
of barbarous tribes to wage furious wars with each other, than 
at first sight appears. The Irish peasantry, in general, were 
till lately barbarous in their minds and habits, and, but for the 
presence of a large army of civilized men, who preserved the 
peace, they would have fought with, and exterminated, each 
other. It is questionable whether the miseries that would have 
attended such a course of action would have exceeded those 
which are actually endured from starvation. The bane of Ire- 
land is, that her population has increased far more rapidly than 
her capital, morality, and knowledge. Where a nation is left 
to follow its own course this does not occur. Dissension keeps 
down the numbers, until intelligence, capital, and industry take 
the lead. England prevented the Irish from fighting, but she 
did little to improve them. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 191 

occupy the other. The hand-loom weavers of Britain, earn- 
ing five shillings a week by the labour of six days, of four- 
teen hours each, are at the base of the manufacturing system, 
while the Peels and Arkwrights, possessing millions of 
pounds, appear at the summit. There is something not 
agreeable to our moral sentiments, and not conformable to the 
brother-loving and wealth-despising precepts of Christianity, 
in a system of which these are the natural effects, and accord- 
ing to which, even benevolence cannot be manifested toward 
one human being without indirectly doing injury to another. 

Another example of the solidity and consistency of the 
prevailing system may be noticed. Many persons errone- 
ously imagine that there is no social obstacle to the rich 
leaving off their vanities and luxuries, and dedicating their 
surplus revenues to moral and religious purposes, and that 
great good would result from their doing so ; but the con- 
sequences, even of this virtuous measure, would, while the 
present system endures, prove highly detrimental to thou- 
sands of meritorous persons. Multitudes of laborious and 
virtuous families subsist by furnishing materials for the 
luxuries of the rich, and a change in the direction of theii 
expenditure would involve these families in ruin. Fluctua- 
tions in fashion, as taste varies, often occasion great tem- 
porary suffering to this class of the community, but a 
total abandonment of all luxurious indulgences, on the part of 
the wealthy, would involve them in irretrievable misfortune. 

We perceive, therefore, that the general arrangements 
of our existing social system evidently bear reference to 
the supremacy of our lower faculties. The pursuit of wealth 
at present generally ends in the gratification of Self-Esteem 
and Love of Approbation. The attainment of power and 
distinction in politics, in rank, or in fashion, is the Alpha 
and Omega of the machinery of our social system ; yet it 
does not produce general happiness. Every moral, and I 
may almost say religious, advantage is incidental to, and not 
a part of, the system itself. There are laws to compel us to 
pay taxes, for the maintenance of officers of justice, whose 
duty it is to punish crime after it is committed ; but there 
are no general laws to prevent crime by means of peniten- 
tiaries and of abundant and instructive schools.* There 

* The United States of America are happily free from this 
reproach. In their provisions for national education, and in 
the management of their prisons, they are greatly in advance 
of Britain. 



192 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF SOCIETY*. 

are laws which tax us to support armies and navies for th6 
purpose of fighting our neighbours ; but no laws to compel 
us to pay taxes for the purpose of providing, in our great 
cities, the humblest luxuries, nay, almost necessaries for the 
poor, such as baths to preserve their health, reading-rooms, 
or places of instruction and amusement, in which their ra- 
tional faculties may be cultivated and their comfort promoted 
after their days of toil are finished. There are taxes to main- 
tain the utterly destitute and miserably poor after they have 
fallen into that condition, but none to provide means for 
arresting them in their downward progress toward it. In 
short, the system, as one of self-interest, is wonderfully 
perfect. From the beginning to the end of it, prizes are 
held out to the laborious, intelligent, and moral, who choose 
to dedicate their lives out and out, honestly and fairly, to 
the general scramble for property and distinction ; but equal 
facilities are presented to all who are incapable of main- 
taining this struggle, to fall down, and sink to the lowest 
depths of wretchedness and degradation. When they have 
reached the bottom, and are helpless and completely undone, 
the hand of a meagre charity is stretched forth to support 
life, till disappointment, penury, and old age, consign them 
to the grave. The taxes occasioned by our national and 
immoral wars render us unable to support imposts for moral 
objects. 

Now, it is worthy of remark, that if the system of indi- 
vidual aggrandizement be the necessary, unalterable, and 
highest result of the human faculties as constituted by na- 
ture, it altogether excludes the possibility of Christianity ever 
becoming practical in this world. The leading and distin- 
guishing moral precepts of Christianity are those which 
command us to do to others as we would wish that they 
should do unto us ; to love our neighbours as ourselves ; 
and not to permit our minds to become engrossed in the 
pursuit of wealth, or infatuated by the vanity and ambition 
of the world. But if a constant struggle for supremacy in 
wealth and station be unavoidable among men, it is clearly 
impossible for us to obey such precepts, which must there* 
fore be as little adapted to our nature and condition, as the 
command to love and protect poultry, but never to eat them, 
would be to that of the fox. Instead, therefore, of divines 
teaching Christian morality, it would (if the system of com- 
petition of individual interests be the highest that our nature 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 193 

admits of) be wiser in them to follow the example of the 
political economists, and to suit their precepts to the human 
constitution. Political economists in general regard the 
existing forms and condition of society as the result of our 
natural faculties, and as destined to be the lot of man to 
the end of time. In perfect consistency with this view, 
they propose to provide for the increasing welfare of the race, 
by exalting the aim of the selfish principles, and directing 
them more beneficially by extended knowledge. They 
would educate the operative classes, and thereby confer on 
them mental energy, fortitude, and a rational ambition — 
after which it might be expected that they would not con- 
sent to labour, like the lower animals, merely for the hum- 
blest subsistence, but would consider decent comforts, if not 
simple luxuries, essential to their enjoyment, and demand 
wages adequate to the command of these, as the recompense 
of their industry and skill. As long, however, as the system 
of individual aggrandizement is maintained, it will be the 
interest of the class immediately above the operatives, and 
who subsist on the profits of their labour, to prevent the 
growth of improved notions and principles of action ; for the 
labourer is in the most profitable condition for his master's 
service when he possesses just intelligence and morality 
sufficient to enable him to discharge his duties faithfully, 
but so little as to feel neither the ambition nor the power of 
effectually improving his circumstances. And, accordingly, 
the maintenance of the labouring classes in this state of 
contentment and toil, is the beau ideal of practical philoso- 
phy with many excellent individuals in the higher and middle 
ranks of life. 

Under this system, the aim of the teacher of morality and 
religion is to render the operative classes quiet and industri- 
ous labourers, toiling patiently through this life in poverty 
and obscurity, and looking forward to heaven as their only 
place of rest and enjoyment. Under the selfish system, 
religion and morality do not aspire to the establishment on 
earth of what I regard as the truly Christian character — that 
in which each individual will find his neighbour's happiness 
an essential element in his own ; in which he shall truly love 
his neighbour as himself : and in which labour and the at- 
tainment of wealth shall not be the ends or objects of his 
existence, but simply the means of enabling him to live in 
comfort and in leisure, to exercise habitually his moral and 
17 



194 THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 

intellectual faculties, and to draw from them his chief de- 
lights. According to the present system, the attainment of 
this condition is deferred till we arrive in heaven. Now, if 
human nature be capable of realizing this state on earth, it 
is a pity to postpone it till after death ; more especially, as 
there is every warrant, both in reason and scripture, for be- 
lieving that every step which we make toward it in this life, 
will prove so much of a real advance toward it hereafter. 

It is now time, however, to enter on the consideration 
of the main subject of the present lecture — the question, 
whether the human faculties, and their relations to external 
objects, admit of man ascending in the scale of morality, 
intelligence, and religion, to that state in which the evils of 
individual competition shall be obviated, and full scope be 
afforded for the actual supremacy of the highest powers. 

On contemplating man's endowments in a general point 
of view, nothing would appear more simple and easy than 
practically to realize the general and permanent supremacy 
of the moral powers. We have seen that aptitude for labour 
is conferred on him by the Creator, so that if he were en- 
lightened in regard to his own constitution and the sources 
of his own welfare, he would desire to labour for his own 
gratification, even independently of the reward, in the form 
of food, raiment, and physical abundance, which it is the 
means of procuring. Again, the earth, and the external 
world generally, are created with an admirable adaptation 
to his bodily and mental powers, so as to recompense him, 
by immense rewards, for a very moderate extent of exertion 
in applying them to his own advantage. Farther, man has 
been endowed with inventive and co-operative faculties, 
which confer on him a vast ingenuity, and render him cap- 
pable of impressing, not only the inferior animals, but fire, 
air, and water, into his service as labourers. And finally, 
he has received organs of Benevolence, prompting him to 
love all sentient beings, and to delight in their happiness ; 
organs of Conscientiousness, desiring to see universal justice 
reign ; organs of Ideality, which aspire after universal per- 
fection and loveliness ; with organs of Veneration, Wonder, 
and Hope, leading him to desire communion with God, and 
to rejoice in the contemplation of all that is pure, exalted, 
and beneficent. 

With such a constitution, and placed in such circum- 
stances, the wonder is that he has wandered in error and 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 195 

misery so long. The cause is rendered clear by phrenology. 
In addition to these high moral and intellectual endowments, 
man possesses animal propensities, which are blind, selfish 
instincts. They are necessary for his sustenance, and their 
organs are the largest, most active, and earliest developed 
in his brain. They are extremely prone to produce evil 
until they are directed and enlightened by his moral and 
intellectual powers. 

Man's ignorance of himself and of external nature, and his 
consequent inexperience of the attainments which he is 
capable of reaching, appear to have been the chief causes of 
his past errors ; and the following among other reasons 
authorize us to hope for better things hereafter. His pro- 
pensities, although strong, are felt by all to be .the inferior 
powers in dignity and authority. There is, therefore, in 
man a natural longing for the realization of a more perfect 
social condition than any hitherto exhibited, in which justice 
and benevolence shall prevail. Plato's " Republic " is the 
most ancient" recorded example of this desire of a perfect 
social state. Josephus describes the sect of the Essenes, 
among the Jews, as aiming at the same object. " The 
Essenes," says he, " despise riches, and are so liberal as 
to excite our admiration. Nor can any be found among 
thern who is more wealthy than the rest ; for it is a law 
with them, that those who join their order should distri- 
bute their possessions among the members, the property of 
each being added to that of all the rest, as being all bre- 
thren." — "They reject pleasure as evil ; and they look upon 
temperance and a conquest over the passions as the greatest 
virtue." — (War, ii. ch. 7.) In the days of the apostles, an 
attempt was made by the Christians to realize these princi- 
ples, by possessing all things in common. The same end is 
aimed at also by the Society of Friends, by the Harmonites 
of North America, and by the followers of Mr. Owen in 
Britain : Plato's Republic, and Sir Thomas More's Utopia, 
which was a similar scheme, were purely speculative, and 
have never been tried. The word " Utopian," indeed, is 
usually applied to all schemes too perfect and beautiful to 
admit of being reduced to practice. The Essenes laboured 
in agriculture and in various trades, and seem to have main- 
tained their principles in active operation for a considerable 
period of time. We are not told whether the primitive 
Christians formed themselves into an association for the 



196 THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

purpose of producing wealth : so far as we are aware, they 
merely contributed their actual possessions, and then gave 
themselves up to religious duties ; and as their stores were 
soon consumed, the practice ceased. The Harmonites are 
stated to have been a colony of Moravians united under one 
or more religious leaders : in their own country they had 
from infancy been bred to certain religious opinions, in which 
they were generally agreed ; they had all been trained to 
industry in its various branches, and disciplined in practical 
morality ; and thus prepared, they emigrated with some little 
property, purchased a considerable territory in Indiana, which 
was then one of the back settlements of the United States, 
and proceeded to realize the scheme of common property 
and Christian brotherhood. They sustained many privations 
at first ; but in time they built a commodious and handsome 
village, including a church, a school-house, a library, and 
baths. They cultivated the ground, and carried on various 
manufactures ; but all laboured for the common good, and 
were fed and clothed by the community. They implicitly 
obeyed their chief pastor or leader, Mr. Rapp, who exer- 
cised a mild though despotic authority over them. They lived 
as families in distinct dwellings, and enjoyed all the pleasures 
of the domestic affections ; but their minds were not agitated 
by ambition, nor racked by anxiety about providing for their 
children. The latter were early trained to industry, co- 
operation, and religion ; and if their parents died, they were 
at once adopted by the community. The Harmonites were 
not distracted with cares about their old age or sickness, 
because they were then abundantly provided for. There 
was division of labour, but no exhausting fatigue : a fertile 
soil, favourable climate, and moral habits, rendered moderate 
exertion amply sufficient to provide for every want. There 
were natural distinctions of rank ; for all were subordinate 
to Mr. Rapp, and the individuals most highly gifted filled the 
most important offices, such as those of religious instructors, 
teachers, and directors of works, and were venerated and 
beloved by the other members accordingly ; but no artificial 
distinctions found a place. This community existed many 
years, enjoyed great prosperity, and became rich. Mr. Owen 
at last appeared, bought their property, and proceeded to try 
his own scheme. They then retired again into the wilder- 
ness, and recoitfmenced their career. At that time thev 
were about two thousand in number. 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 197 

Here, then, the vice and misery which prevail in common 
society were in a great measure excluded ; and though the 
external circumstances of the Harmonites were peculiarly 
favourable, their history shows what human nature is capable 
of attaining. 

The leading principle of Mr. Owen is, that human cha- 
racter is determined mainly by external circumstances ; and 
that natural dispositions, and even established habits, may 
be easily overcome. Accordingly, he invited all persons 
who approved of his scheme, to settle at New Harmony ; 
but as those who acted on his invitation had been trained 
in the selfish system, and were, in many instances, mere 
ignorant adventurers, they naturally failed to act in accor- 
dance with the dictates of the moral sentiments and intellect, 
and Mr. Owen's benevolent scheme proved completely un- 
successful. The establishment at Orbiston, in Lanarkshire, 
set on foot ten years ago by the admirers of that gentleman, 
fell closely under my personal observations ; and there the 
same disregard of the principles of human nature, and the 
results of experience, was exhibited. About three hundred 
persons, very imperfectly educated, and united by no great 
moral or religious principle, excepting the vague idea of co- 
operation, were congregated in a large building ; they were 
furnished with the use of two hundred and seventy acres of 
arable land, and commenced the co-operative mode of life. 
But their labour being guided by no efficient direction or 
superintendence, and there being no habitual supremacy of 
the moral and intellectual powers among them, animating 
each with a love of the public good, but the reverse — the 
result was melancholy and speedy. Without in the least 
benefiting the operatives, the scheme ruined its philanthropic 
projectors, most of whom are now either in premature graves, 
or emigrants to distant lands, while every stone which they 
reared has been razed to the foundation. 

These details are not foreign to the subject in hand. 
They prove, that while ignorance prevails, and the selfish fa- 
culties bear the ascendency, the system of individual interests 
is the, only one for which men are fitted. At the same time, 
the attempts above narrated show that there is in the human 
mind an ardent aspiration after a higher, purer, and happier 
state of society than has ever yet been realized. In the 
words of Mr. Forsyth, there is in some men " a passion for 
reforming the world ;" and the success of Mr. Rapp, at 
17* 



198 THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 

Harmony, shows that whenever the animal propensities can 
be controlled by the strength of moral and religious princi- 
ple, co-operation for the general welfare and a vast increase 
of happiness become possible. As, however, individuals 
are liable to be led away on this subject by sanguine dispo- 
sitions and poetical fancies, our first object should be to 
judge calmly whether past experience does not outweigh, 
in the scale of reason, these bright desires and this almost 
solitary example, and teach us to regard them as dangerous 
phantoms, rather than indications of capabilities lying dor„ 
mant within us. Certainly the argument founded on expe- 
rience is a very strong one ; yet it does not seem to me to 
be conclusive — and as the question of the capabilities of 
human nature is one of great and preliminary importance, 
a statement will be given in the next lecture of the reasons 
which render it probable that man is still susceptible of 
improvement to an unascertained extent. Our opinions on 
this point must necessarily exercise a great influence on 
our ideas of social duty ; and the subject is, therefore, de- 
serving of the fullest consideration. 



199 



LECTURE XI. 

THE CONSIDERATION OF THE PROSPECTIVE CONDITION OF 
SOCIETY CONTINUED. — DUTY OF MAINTAINING THE POOR. 

Reasons for expecting future human improvement — The brain 
improves with time, exercise, and the melioration of insti- 
tutions — Existing superior brains and minds prove the capa- 
bility of the race — The best men are the firmest believers 
in man's capability of improvement — Human happiness will 
increase with the progress of knowledge — Ignorance still 
prevalent — Many of our sufferings traceable to causes 
removable by knowledge and the practice of morality— 
This exemplified in poverty, and the vicissitude and uncer- 
tainty of conditions— Means by which human improvement 
may be effected — The interest of individuals closely linked 
with general improvement and prosperity — Examples in 
proof of this — Extensive view of the Christian precept, that 
we ought to love our neighbour as ourselves — Duty of attend- 
ing to public affairs — Prevention of war — Abolition of slave- 
trade — Imperfection of political economy in its tendency to 
promote general happiness — Proposal to set apart stated 
portions of time for the instruction of the people in their 
social duties, and for the discharge of them — Anticipated 
good effects of such a measure — Duty of endeavouring to 
equalise happiness — Duty of maintaining the poor — Opposite 
views of political economists on this subject considered — 
Causes of pauperism ; and means of removing them — These 
causes not struck at by the present system of management 
of the poor ; but, on the contrary, strengthened. 

I proceed to state some of the reasons which render it 
probable that the capacity of man for improvement is greater 
than experience may, at first sight, lead us to suppose. 

In the first place, man is obviously progressive in the 
evolution of his mental powers. The developement of his 
brain appears to improve with time, exercise, and the me- 
lioration of his institutions. There is strong evidence that, 
in civilized nations in general, the moral and intellectual 
organs are larger, in proportion to the organs of the animal 
propensities, than they are in savages. The skulls of civi- 
lized and savage races, in the collection of the Phrenological 
Society, afford proofs of this fact.* It is equally certain, 

* Since the text was written, I have visited the United 
States of America, and seen large numbers of skulls of native 
Indians, and also living individuals of these races, and have 
found the statement in the text supported by this evidence. 



200 THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 

that individuals are fitted to institute, maintain, and enjoy, 
a highly moral and intellectual social condition, in proportion 
to the predominance of the organs of the superior sentiments 
and the intellectual powers in their brains. Many persons 
enjoying this combination may be found in all Christian 
countries. They are genuine philanthropists — good, pious, 
wise, long-suffering, and charitable. They see and lament 
the ignorance, selfishness, blindness, and degradation of the 
unenlightened masses of mankind, and would rejoice in 
institutions that would introduce peace and good will to 
men on earth, and the love of God into every mind. If the 
brains of a great majority of mankind could be brought up 
to that standard, and illuminated by knowledge, Christianity 
might be realized as a practical doctrine, which it has never 
yet generally been. The love of everything good, holy, 
exalted, and refined, would be strong and general ; and it 
seems reasonable to believe that the human intellect might 
succeed in discovering means of gratifying the aspirations 
of the moral faculties, in social habits, pursuits, and institu- 
tions. If, then, men possessing such brains exist, human 
nature must be capable of reaching this condition. As we 
are all of the same race, and regulated by the same laws, 
the excellent qualities exhibited by a few cannot be denied 
to be within the ultimate attainment of the majority. 

Farther — As the firmest believers in man's capability of 
improvement are those persons who themselves possess high 
moral developement of brain, they are inspired, in this faith, 
not by a demon, but by heaven ; for the moral sentiments 
are the God- like elements of our nature ; and the very fact 
that these ennobling expectations are entertained by men 
possessing the best moral affections, affords an indication 
! that Providence intends that they should be realized. In 
proportion, then, as a large developement of the organs of the 
higher faculties becomes general, the conviction of the pos- 
sibility of improvement, and the desire for it, will increase.* 

See the most authentic descriptions of these skulls in Dr. Mor- 
ton's Crania Americana ; an admirable work, containing se- 
venty-eight drawings, of the size of life, of the skulls of native 
American Indians, with letter-press descriptions of the men- 
tal qualities of the tribes. 

* The failure of the disciples of Mr. Owen, at Orbiston, in 
Lanarkshire, maybe supposed to be a refutation of this remark ; 
but they followed the aspirations of their moral sentiments, 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 201 

Again — Man, as already mentioned, is clearly and un- 
deniably progressive in knowledge ; and this single fact 
authorizes us to rely with confidence on his future improve- 
ment. In proportion as he shall evolve a correct knowledge 
of the elements of external nature and of his own constitu- 
tion out of the dark chaos in which they have hitherto 
existed, will his means of acting wisely and advantageously 
for his own happiness be augmented. If we trace in 
history the periods of the direst sufferings of human nature, 
we shall find them uniformly to have been those of the most 
benighted ignorance, and phrenology confirms the records 
of history on this subject ; it shows us that the animal 
organs are the largest and most active, and that, in uncul- 
tivated men, they act blindly and with terrible energy, 
producing misery in every form. If the progress of know- 
ledge be destined to increase virtue and enjoyment, our 
brightest days must yet be in reserve, because knowledge 
is only at this moment dawning even on civilized nations. 
It has been well observed, that we who now live are only 
emerging out of the ignorance and barbarism of the dark 
ages ; we have not yet fully escaped. This is proved by 
the mass of uneducated persons everywhere existing;* 
by the imperfect nature of the instruction usually given ; 
without consulting the dictates of enlightened intellect. They 
believed that the good which they strongly desired could be at 
once realized, by measures suggested by the mere force of the 
desire, without fulfilling the preliminary natural conditions to 
success. They took a number of selfish and ignorant people, 
and expected that, by a few speeches and by living in a com- 
munity, they would alter their mental condition, and render 
them in the highest degree disinterested and moral. This was 
irrational, and failure was the natural result ; but this does 
not show that wiser means may not lead to happier ends. 
* State of Education in England. 
The register of marriages in England throws an incidental 
light upon the state of education. The parties married sign. 
their names, if they can write, and affix their marks, if they 
cannot. Judging by this criterion, it appears, that among 100 
men who marry in England, the number unable to write is 33. 
Among 100 women, 49 ; and the mean of both, 41. As it is 
estimated that the number who marry annually is only about 
3 per cent, of the persons marriageable, the data are too limited 
to afford sure results ; but in the absence of better evidence, 
they are well worthy of attention. With this qualification, we 
give the proportions for the different sections of the country. 



202 THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 

and by the vast multitude of prejudices which still prevail, 
even in the best informed classes of society. It is, in truth, 
an error to believe that even modern Europe is enlightened, 
in any reasonable meaning of the term. A few of her 
ablest men are comparatively well instructed, when tried 
by the standards of other ages ; but the wisest of them have 
the most forcible conviction that the field of their knowledge 
of nature, physical and mental, when compared with the 
va&t regions of territory still unexplored, is as a span to the 
whole terrestrial globe : and as to the multitude of mankind, 
their ignorance is like the loftiest mountain in extent, and 
their knowledge as the most diminutive mole-hill. The 
great body of the people are uninstructed in everything 
deserving the name of practical science. Neither our 
scheme of life, the internal arrangement of our houses, the 
plans of our towns, our modes of industry, our habits of 
living, our amusements and other ways of employing the 
small portion of leisure left to us by the calls of business, 
nor even the details and forms of our religious worship, have 
been instituted and adopted from any sound and systematic 
view of our own nature, or its wants and capabilities. The 
art of printing, and the great era of discovery in the arts 

Scholarship of England. 
Of one hundred of each sex who marry, the number who 
sign with marks is — 

Males. Females. Mean. 
South-eastern counties, . . 32 40 36 

South midland do. . . 43 53 48 

Eastern do. . . 45 52 48 

South-western do. . . 31 47 39 

Western do. . . 40 54 47 

North midland do. . . 32 50 41 

North-western do. . . 39 63 51 

Yorkshire, 34 49 41 

Northern do. . . 21 42 31 

Monmouth and Wales, . . 48 70 59 

The Metropolis, . . 12 24 18 

The fact that 41 adults out of every 100 cannot write their 
names, is disgraceful to England, and to the church in parti- 
cular, whose especial duty it was, either to make provision 
for the education of the people, or to see that it was made by 
the state. The church, in its collective capacity, has in fact 
been always hostile to the diffusion of knowledge. — Review of 
the Registrar-General's Second Annual Report of Births, Deaths, 
and Marriages, for England, in Scotsman of 22d August, 1840. 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 203 

and sciences, are still comparatively recent ; and the prac- 
tical application of them to increase the intelligence and 
happiness of the great mass of the people, with a view to 
realize Christian morality and its attendant enjoyments in 
this life, has yet been limited and imperfect. 

The external world is clearly constituted with the inten- 
tion that man should exert his highest faculties, illuminated 
by knowledge, and that his happiness should be thereby in- 
creased. Civilized man, with his numerous inventions, and 
his admirable command over physical and animal nature, ap- 
pears almost like a God, compared with the savages of New 
Holland, and other helpless tribes wearing the human form, 
without manifesting the human mind. When we survey 
the great ingenuity and value of our mechanical inventions, 
and consider to what extent they have increased our powers 
of producing the necessaries and elegancies of life, it is im- 
possible to doubt that the Creator, when he bestowed on 
us faculties which he foresaw would one day render us 
masters, to so great an extent, of his physical creation, in- 
tended that they should ultimately increase the happiness 
of all his children. He never could have designed them to 
be employed merely in carrying on a vast game of hazard, 
in which a thousand should be losers, and only one the fortu- 
nate gainer of the prize ; and yet, at this moment, when 
we regard, on the one hand, the condition of our operative 
manufacturing population, too generally pressed to the earth 
with poverty and toil, and on the other, a few men of superior 
talent, who, by combining the exertions, and accumulating 
the profits of the labour of these industrious classes, have 
become almost princes in fortune, we cannot deny that this 
is, to some extent, the use to which discoveries in art and 
science have been devoted. This, I say, cannot be the 
ultimate design of Providence ; and therefore I conclude, 
again, that we must be as yet only evolving our destinies ; 
that we are now in a state of transition, and advancing to 
higher morality and more universal enjoyment. 

Another reason for my conviction of human capability of 
improvement is, that, imperfect as our philosophical acquain- 
tance with ourselves and with external nature at present is, 
we are able to trace many of our sufferings to causes which 
are removable by knowledge and by the practice of moral 
duty. The evils of sickness and premature death may, in 
general, and with the exception of accidents, be t,raced to 



204 THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY 

feeble constitutions inherited from parents, or to direct dis- 
obedience of the organic laws in our own persons. If know- 
ledge of the causes of health and disease were generally 
diffused, and if the sanctions of religion and the opinion of 
society were directed toward enforcing attention to them, 
it is reasonable to believe that in every succeeding genera- 
tion, fewer and fewer parents would produce children with 
feeble constitutions, and fewer and fewer adults would cause 
their own deaths prematurely, by ignorant infringement of 
these laws. 

Poverty, and the consequent want of the necessaries and 
enjoyments of life, is another vast source of human suffer- 
ing. But who that traces the immeasurable fruitfulness of 
the earth, and the unbounded productiveness of human 
labour and skill, can doubt that if a higher-minded and more 
considerate population could be reared, who should act 
according to the dictates of an enlightened understanding 
and a sound practical morality, and establish wiser social 
arrangements — this source of suffering would also be dried 
up, or very greatly diminished ! 

Vicissitude, and uncertainty of condition also afflict 
thousands who are placed above the reach of actual want 
of food and raiment ; yet how much of these evils may be 
traced to the dark mysteriousness in which many involve 
their trade ; in consequence of which, each manufacturer 
is often in secret ruining both himself and his neighbour 
by over-production, without any of them being aware that 
he is the source of his own and his neighbour's calamities ; 
and how much evil may be ascribed to the grasping and 
gambling spirit, which prompts so many persons to engage 
in wild speculations, which a sound education in political 
economy might prevent ! Ills like these are certainly to 
some extent avoidable, by knowledge of the principles which 
govern commerce, and by the practice of prudence and 
morality by individuals. 

The last reason which I assigned for believing in the ca- 
pacity of man for improvement is, that he can scarcely 
move one step of advance in knowledge and morality, with- 
out a palpable melioration of his condition. If you will 
trace our countrymen through their various grades, of sa- 
vages, barbarians, chivalrous professors of love, war, and 
plunder, and of civilized citizens of the world, you will find 
the aggregate enjoyment of the people increased with every 



.„.- ruTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 205 

extension of knowledge and virtue. This is so obvious and 
certain, that I forbear to waste your time by proving it in 
detail : we cannot reasonably suppose that the progress is 
destined to stop here. 

For all the reasons now assigned, I hope you will go along 
with me in the conviction, that improvement, not boundless, 
but so extensive that its limits are unknown, is within the 
teach of man. I shall now endeavour to point out the means 
by which this improvement may be carried into effect. 

The first step toward realizing this object, is to produce 
a general conviction of its possibility, which I have endea- 
voured in this and the preceding lectures to accomplish. 
The next is to communicate to each individual a clear per- 
ception of the advantages which would accrue to himself 
from such improvement, and a firm conviction of the im- 
possibility of individuals in general ever attaining to the full 
enjoyment and satisfaction of their highest and best faculties, 
except by means of social institutions founded on the basis 
of the moral and intellectual faculties. 

In order to support this last proposition, I solicit your 
attention, for a brief space, to our helpless condition as in- 
dividuals. In social and civilized life, not one of us could 
subsist in comfort for a day, without the aid and society of 
our fellow-men.* This position will not be generally dis- 
puted ; but the idea is almost universal, that if we only 
acquire property enough, we may command, by means of 
money, every object and every service that pur utmost 
fancies can desire. This, however, is a grave error. Has 
any of you ever been travelling, and lost or broken some 
ingenious and useful article which you were constantly using, 
purchased in London or Edinburgh ; and have you, on 
coming to a considerable village in the country, where you 
felt certain that you would be able to supply your want by 
a new purchase, found that you searched in vain 1 The 
general inhabitants of the district had not yet adopted the 
use of that article ; the shops contained only the things 

* Alexander Selkirk subsisted in solitude for four years, on 
the uninhabited Island of Juan Fernandez, in comfort, and 
even with enjoyment, after he had become accustomed to his 
situation ; but he had a fine climate and a fertile soil, with 
unbounded range for action ; and a human being left without 
aid in a civilized community, would be far more helpless and 
miserable. 

18 



206 TfiE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 

which they demanded ; and you speedily discovered that, 
however rich your purse might be in sovereigns, you could 
not advance beyond the sphere of enjoyment of the humbler 
people, into whose territory you had come. Or, during a 
residence in the country, do you take a longing for some 
particular book — not a rare or old work, but one on an im- 
portant and generally cultivated science, say Lyell's Geo- 
logy, or Murray's Chemistry — and repair to the circulating 
library of the country town 1 You search the catalogue for 
it in vain ! You go next to the best bookseller's shop, hut 
it is not there either. The bookseller looks into his London 
or Edinburgh correspondent's catalogue, finds the name and 
price at once, and offers to get the book for you by the next 
monthly parcel ; but in the meantime you receive a con- 
vincing proof that you cannot, without drawing on the stores 
of a more scientific population, advance, even intellectual- 
ly, before the general inhabitants of the country in which 
you are located ; because the means of doing so do not exist 
around you. If you proceed to survey the catalogue of the 
county circulating library, you will find that it contains 
chiefly the standard novels, with the current magazines, and 
such voyages and travels as have acquired a great popularity. 
With these you must rest contented, or draw your supplies 
from a district more advanced in intellectual culture. 

Now, the principle which is here illustrated holds good 
universally in social life. 

If you are a parent, and see the imperfections of the prevail- 
ing system of education, you cannot improve your condition 
until a teacher and a large number of parents shall have con- 
curred in certain views, and combined in the institutions of an 
improved seminary. Many applications have been made to 
me, for information where seminaries for rational education, 
particularly for females, were to be found ; but, until very 
recently, I could not tell ; because none such, to my know- 
ledge, existed. We have now several of these institutions 
in Edinburgh ; among others, the infant-school of Mr. and 
Miss Anderson, in Gayfield-square. Until these were insti- 
tuted, individual parents were compelled, by social necessity, 
to place their children in schools of which they did not 
approve, because they could find no better. Nay, enlight- 
ened teachers have told me that their schools are arrested 
in their progress, and retained in arrear of their own know- 
ledge and convictions of improvement, in consequence of the 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 207 

prejudices of parents rendering it unsafe for them to adopt 
new methods. The improved schools, so far as they exist, 
have been created only by the enlightenment of parents, by 
the aid of the press and general instruction. 

Is any of us convinced that human life is rendered unne- 
cessarily laborious by our present habits of competition, and 
does he desire to limit his hours of labour, and long ardently 
to enjoy more ample opportunity for exercising his moral 
and intellectual faculties'! — he soon discovers that while 
his neighbours in general shall continue to seek their chief 
happiness in the pursuit of wealth, or the gratification of 
ambition, he can accomplish little toward realizing his moral 
desires. He must keep his shop open as long as they do ; 
he must labour in his manufactory up to their full standard 
of time ; or if he be a member of a profession, he must 
devote as many hours to business as they ; otherwise he 
will be distanced in the race, and lose both his means of 
subsistence and his station in society. So true is this 
representation, that in my own day, many of the men who, 
without fortune, have embarked in public life, that is, who 
have taken the lead in public affairs, and devoted a large 
portion of their time to the business of the community, have 
ruined themselves and their families. Their competitors in 
trade, manufactures, or professional pursuits, were dedi- 
cating their energies to their private duties, while they were 
dividing their attention between them and the public service ; 
and they were, in consequence, ruined in their individual 
fortunes, and sank into obscurity and want. Yet it is 
certain, that the business of the state, or of a particular town, 
or city, ought to receive a due portion of attention from the 
inhabitants. 

This absolute dependence of individuals on the state of 
the social circle in which they live, extends through all the 
ramifications of existence. Does any individual entertain 
higher notions of moral and religious duty than are current 
in his own rank and age 1 — he will find, when he attempts 
%o carry them into practice, that he becomes an object of 
remark to all, and of dislike and hostility to many. Does 
any individual perceive the great foes to health and comfort, 
in narrow lanes, small sleeping apartments, and ill venti- 
liated rooms and churches, and desire to have them removed T 
— he can accomplish absolutely nothing, until he has con- 
yinced a vast multitude of his fellow-citizens of the reason^ 



208 THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

ableness and advantage of his projected improvements, and 
induced them to co-operate in carrying them into effect. 
Does any of us desire to enjoy more rational public amuse- 
ments than those at present at our command 1 — he cannot 
succeed, unless by operating on the understandings and 
tastes of thousands. Perhaps the highest social pleasure 
of life is that of familiar converse with moral and intelligent 
friends ; but do we not all feel that, from the general absence 
of a cultivated taste and enlightened understanding, our 
social parties are in general cumbrous and formal displays 
of wealth and luxury, and much more occasions of ostenta- 
tion than of pleasing mental entertainment ! It is only by 
a higher general cultivation of the mind that this evil can 
be brought to an end. It is the want of mental resources 
that occasions this dull display. 

But perhaps the strongest proof of the close connexion 
between the public welfare and private interest, is afforded 
by the effects of any great political or commercial convul- 
sion. In 1825-6, we saw extensive failures among bankers, 
merchants, and manufacturers ; and how universal was the 
individual suffering through all classes ! Labourers could 
find no employment, and the shopkeepers who supplied them 
had few customers, and these unable to pay. The great 
manufacturers who supplied these classes with clothing and 
articles for domestic use were idle ; the house proprietor 
suffered for want of solvent tenants, and the landed proprie- 
tor found a dull and disadvantageous market for his produce. 
Contrast this picture with the condition of the country when 
the great branches of manufacturing industry are prosper- 
ous, and how different the happiness of individuals ! Thus 
it appears clear, that even under the present system of the 
pursuit of individual interest, the real welfare of each indi- 
vidual is much more closely connected with that of his 
neighbours than is generally recognised. This proves that 
a fundamental element of individual advantage is public 
prosperity. 

According to my humble conviction, therefore, the very 
first lesson relative to our social duties, which ought to be 
given to the young, is to open their understandings to this 
great fact in the moral administration of the world, that the 
law of Christianity, which commands us to love our neigh- 
bours as ourselves, is actually written in our constitution, 
individual and social, and is a maxim which must become 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 209 

practical, before we can become truly prosperous and happy 
as individuals. 

The precept has been generally interpreted to mean that 
we should do specific acts of kindness to the individual men 
who live locally in our neighbourhood, or who are connected 
with us by ties of intimacy or kindred ; and the parable of 
the good Samaritan naturally tends to excite this idea : but, 
although this is unquestionably one, and a very important, 
application of it, the principle of the precept goes much 
farther. It enjoins us to arrange our social institutions and 
our whole practical conduct in such a manner as to render 
us all simultaneously, and, as nearly as may be, equally, 
happy ; and apparently our nature has been constituted to 
admit of this being done, with unspeakable advantage to all, 
whenever we shall thoroughly understand our constitution, 
its moral wants, and its capabilities. At present this prin- 
ciple is scarcely at all understood, and is certainly not 
generally acted on. 

A few years ago we used to hear the maxim often re- 
peated, that private persons had nothing to do with public 
affairs ; that their business was to mind their shops, their 
manufactories, their professions, and their families, and to 
leave public matters to public men. The evil consequences 
of the world having followed this rule in past ages, may be 
read in the wide aberrations of many of our laws and insti- 
tutions, and of our social condition, from the standards of 
reason and general utility. If you will peruse the pages of 
history, you will find wars often undertaken from the caprices 
of a single sovereign, which spread devastation and misery 
among millions of people. These could not have been 
waged if the millions of private persons on whom the cala- 
mities fell, had considered the public interest inseparably 
connected with their own, and had exercised an enlightened 
control over the actions of their rulers. Another instance 
is found in the history of the slave-trade. It proceeded 
from individual rapacity, and constituted the foulest blot that 
ever stained the fame of Britain. It enriched a few indi- 
viduals at the expense of every principle of humanity, and 
in defiance of every Christian precept. At no period was 
it approved of by the general voice of the people ; but each 
was too busy with his private affairs to be able to make a 
simultaneous and general effort to arrest its pernicious pro- 
gress. At last, growing intelligence and increasing mo- 
18* 



210 THE FUTURE CONDITION OP SOCIETY. 

rality, in the great body of the people, did produce this 
co-operation, and, after ages of crime and misery, it was 
extinguished, by the nation paying £20,000,000 for tho 
freedom of the slaves. If the British people had been able 
earlier to insist on the cessation of this odious traffic, how- 
much of human misery, besides the loss of the £20,000,000, 
would have been avoided ! If we trace narrowly the great 
causes why our rulers have been permitted to waste the 
public resources, and incur the national debt, which is now 
felt to form such a vast impediment to public improvement, 
we shall find that too often the individuals of the nation 
were calculating the private gain which hostilities would 
produce to them, in creating a demand for farm produce, for 
the maintenance of fleets and armies, for cloth for uniforms, 
or for iron for arms, and so on ; — utterly blind to the fact 
that the war was destroying the national resources, and that 
they themselves would, in the end, pay for all. Unfortu- 
nately the maxim that each of us should mind his private 
affairs, make gain of the public if he can, and leave public 
matters to public men, still reigns in too much vigour. The 
number of individuals is yet small, who take an enlightened 
interest in the social welfare : so much is this perceptible 
even in listening to mere discourses upon it, that I have 
seen my audience diminish in proportion as the lectures have 
left the interests of individuals and proceeded to those of 
the public. This indicates a limited capacity for thought. 
One of the most certain marks of a truly enlightened mind, 
is the power of comprehending the dependence of our indi- 
vidual welfare on public prosperity. I do not mean, of 
course, that each of us should become a political reformer, 
or a conservative, or a brawler about town politics, and about 
police regulations, as our chief business, to the neglect of 
our private duties. This would be preposterous, and would 
augment, not diminish, the evils of our social condition. 
What I wish to enforce is, the general conviction that our 
individual enjoyments, viewed in an enlarged light, are 
inseparably bound up with those of the society in which we 
move ; and that it is, therefore, both our interest and our 
duty, to study attentively the nature, objects, and practical 
results, of our social mechanism ; to compare them with 
our faculties ; and then to devote all the time and attention 
that may be necessary to bring our institutions and habits 
of life into accordance with our higher powers. 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 211 

The advantages of acting on these views would be nu- 
merous and important. We should learn to regard public 
measures in their real relationship to general utility, and 
not through the distorting medium of our private interests 
and partialities. We should discover the incalculable power 
which society possesses to improve its own condition and 
institutions, whenever unanimity is attained ; and we should 
feel much more disposed than at present, to promote, with 
our moral influence, the ascendency of all such measures as 
are truly calculated to lead to public good, although benefit- 
ing ourselves only in our social capacity. Another effect 
of enlightened views of our social welfare being generally 
entertained, would be, that men o ( far higher moral and 
intellectual character would become candidates for offices 
of public trust and honour, because they would be certain 
of support from a moral and intelligent public. At present, 
the busy men in all the minor departments of political and 
public life, are too often those who are actuated by a rest- 
less vanity, or who expect to attain some selfish end through 
their public influence and connexions. From the general 
disbelief in disinterested motives, public men are at present 
frequently rewarded with obloquy and abuse, however zea- 
lously and uprightly they may discharge their official duties ; 
and this deters men of delicacy and of sensitive modesty 
from accepting official trusts. There are, fortunately, many 
exceptions, but I fear that there are also too many examples 
of this being the truth. The truly enlightened and disin- 
terested shrink from the means which selfishly ambitious 
men employ, not only to obtain, but to wield and preserve 
power ; and hence the field is left too entirely to them. 
The remedy for these evils is to educate the public at large 
into a perception of the real nature and importance of their 
social interests and duties. 

If I be correct in the opinion that the happiness of each 
individual is inseparably connected with that of the society 
in which he lives, and that the law that we must love our 
neighbour as ourselves really means, in its extensive sense, 
that general enjoyment can arise only from improved social 
habits and institutions — then I shall not be thought to be 
guilty of extravagance, when I remark, that in times past 
this view has rarely, to any practical end, been pressed on 
the attention of any class of society. Within the last fifty 
©r sixty years political economy has been discussed on 



212 THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

philosophical principles ; but the leading aim of the econo- 
mists has been to demonstrate the most effectual means of 
increasing wealth. The very title of the first valuable 
work on the subject in. this country, is "The Wealth of 
Nations," by Dr. Adam Smith. The principles which he 
expounded, it is true, embrace establishments for promo- 
ting religion and education, and other moral institutions ; 
and no one can value his labours, and those of his succes- 
sors, such as Ricardo, M'Culloch, and their followers, more 
highly than T do ; yet it is unquestionable that the great aim 
of all these writers has been to clear away the rubbish that 
impeded the play of our selfish faculties, and to teach the 
advantage of all laws and institutions that will permit every 
man's mind to follow its own bent, in search of its own 
happiness in its own way, restrained only by the obligation 
that he shall not directly injure or obstruct the prosperity 
of his neighbour. In the infancy of civilization and social 
institutions, this instruction is most valuable ; as is also 
the exposition of the natural laws by which the creation 
and diffusion of wealth are regulated ; so that these writers 
are worthy of all consideration as being useful in their day. 
But society must proceed in its course. It has augmented 
its wealth, while many persons doubt whether the increase 
of its happiness has, in all ranks, kept pace with that of 
its riches. What seems now to be wanted is, the know* 
ledge and adoption of principles allied to our moral, reli- 
gious, and intellectual faculties, which may enable us fully 
to profit by the labours of political economists and of our 
skilful artisans. The extent of the people's power tq 
improve their social condition is very great, if they could 
only be so far enlightened regarding the constituent elements 
of their own happiness, as to pursue it in a right direction, 
and in combination. The gigantic efforts of Britain in war 
afford an example of the prodigious effects, in the form of 
violence, which we are capable of producing by our combined 
wealth and mental energies. If our forefathers had dedi- 
cated to executing physical improvements and to instructing 
the people, the same ardour of mind, and the same extent pf 
treasure, which they squandered from the year 1700 to 1815 
in war, what a different result would at this day have pre- 
sented itself ! If they had bestowed honours on the benefac- 
tors of the human race as they have done on its destroyers, 
bow different wpuld have been the direction of ambition ! 



THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 213 

The next requisite for improving our social condition, is 
the command of time for the discharge of our social duties. 
One day in the week is set apart for teaching and practising 
our religious duties ; but in that day very little instruction 
is communicated, by our public and authorized teachers, 
touching the affairs of this world, and the laws by which the 
happiness of our social state may be best promoted. The 
other six days of the week are devoted to the advancement 
of our individual interests in the pursuit of wealth, or. as the 
Scripture designates it, to the collection of " the meat 
which perisheth." In the existing arrangements of society, 
our social duties do not appear to be at all recognised as 
incumbent on us. There are no seminaries for making us 
acquainted with them, and no time allotted for the practice 
of them. Those who discharge public duties, must either 
sacrifice to them the time which their competitors are 
devoting to their private interests, or overtask their minds 
and bodies by labouring when nature demands repose. 
Now, with all deference to existing opinions, I would hum- 
bly propose that a specific portion of time should be set 
apart for teaching in public assemblies, and discharging 
practically, our social duties, and that all private business 
should then be suspended. If half a day in the week were 
devoted to this purpose, some of the following consequences 
might be expected to ensue : 

In the first place, the immense importance of social 
institutions and habits to individual happiness would be 
brought home to all. It would be half a day dedicated to 
the consideration of the means by which we might practi- 
cally love our neighbours as ourselves : a public recognition 
of the principle, as one capable of being carried into practice, 
would, in itself, bend many minds toward realizing it. 

Secondly, such an arrangement would enable, and also 
excite, the people at large to turn their attention seriously to 
moral and social considerations, on which their interests 
so much depend, instead of considering it meritorious and 
advantageous to neglect thejn : and it would tend to remove 
thafc dense mass of ignorance and prejudice which offers a 
powerful obstacle to all improvement. If I be correct in 
thinking that individual men cannot realize the Christian 
precepts in their actions, while living in a society whose 
ruling motives are opposed to them, it is obvious that the 
rectification of our social habits is an indispensable prelude 



214 THE FUTURE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 

to the introduction of practical Christianity ; and how can 
these be rectified unless by instructing the people in the 
means of improving them 1 Thus the religious community 
are deeply interested in promoting the plan of reformation 
now proposed. 

Thirdly, the dedication of a specific portion of time to 
our social duties would leave leisure for truly virtuous and 
enlightened men to transact public business, without expo- 
sing themselves to be ruined by their competitors in the race 
of private interest. Under the present system, the selfish 
are enriching themselves while the patriotic are impoverish- 
ing their families by discharging their public duties. In 
short, either this or some other adequate means must be 
used, to communicate to men in general a correct and 
elevated view of their own nature, position, interests, and 
duties, as rational beings, with a view to induce them to 
improve their social habits, and also to afford faculties for 
the discharge of their public duties, before any substantial 
progress can be made in social improvement ; and without 
social improvement, individual morality and happiness never 
can be securely or permanently maintained. In the " Con- 
stitution of Man " I have endeavoured to show that the 
object of the Creator in bestowing on man the power of 
abridging labour by mechanical inventions, appears to be to 
give him leisure for cultivating his moral and intellectual 
powers ; and if this idea be right, there is no natural ob- 
stacle to the dedication of sufficient time to the purposes in 
question. 

Perhaps the notion will present itself to many persons, 
that, if the industrious classes were congregated to receive 
instruction in this manner, the result would be the formation 
of innumerable clubs and debating societies, in which viva- 
cious but ignorant men would lead their weaker brethren into 
mischievous errors, and imbue them with discontent. This 
would probably happen, if a sudden adoption of the plan took 
place, without previous preparation. At present, there is 
so great an ignorance of useful and sound social principles, 
that such unions would probably be abused ; but a young 
and rising generation may be prepared, by training and%du- 
cation, for comprehending and performing their social duties, 
and then leisure for the practice of these will lead only to 
good. 

So little attention has been paid to instructing the people 



MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR. 215 

at large in their social duties, that I am not acquainted with 
a single treatise on the subject, calculated for popular use, 
except the 38th No. of " Chambers' Information for the 
People," which contains an excellent exposition of a variety 
of public duties ; but it is necessarily limited, in comparison 
with the vast extent of the subject. Nay, not only has no 
instruction in social duties been provided for the people, but 
the opinion has been veiy generally entertained that they 
have no such duties to discharge, except to pay taxes, and 
bear arms when balloted to serve in the militia ; and that 
they go entirely out of their sphere, when they turn their 
attention to public affairs. This appears to me to be a pre- 
posterous and fundamental error ; for the industrious classes, 
of all grades, are, if possible, more directly and strikingly 
affected by the good or bad management of public matters, 
or by our social condition, than the rich, in whose hands 
alone it has been imagined that the discharge of social duties 
should be placed. The operative tradesman and small 
shopkeeper absolutely rise or fall with every wave of 
public prosperity or adversity ; whereas, the landed pro- 
prietor and the great capitalist are able to weather many a 
social storm, with scarcely a perceptible abridgment of their 
enjoyment. 

After the people at large are enlightened, and thoroughly 
imbued with the love of justice and of their neighbours' hap- 
piness, another social duty will be. to carry into practice, 
by all moral means, the grand principle of equalising, as 
much as possible, the enjoyment of all — not by pulling 
down the fortunate and accomplished, but by elevating 
others, as nearly as may be, to an equality with them ; all 
privileges and artificial ranks which obstruct the general 
welfare ought to be abolished ; not violently, however, 
but gradually, and, if possible, by inducing their posses- 
sors to give them up, as injurious to the public and them- 
selves. 

The next social duty which I mention, relates to the 
maintenance of the poor. Much diversity of opinion pre- 
vails on the causes of poverty, the remedies of it, and the 
best means of managing the poor. Many political econo- 
mists have taught that there ought to be no legal provision 
for the poor, because the existence of a legal provision ope- 
rates as a direct stimulus to poverty ; it induces the indolent 
and vicious to relax their own efforts to earn the means of 



216 CAUSES OF POVERTY. 

subsistence, and leads them to throw themselves unblush* 
ingly, and as a matter of right, on the public bounty. Other 
economists, especially in more recent days, have taught the 
very opposite doctrine, and given Ireland as an instance of 
unexampled poverty and misery, arising in consequence of 
there being in that country no legal provision for the poor ; 
and it is now proposed to enact poor-laws for Ireland. This 
proposal is based on the ground, that if the rich be not com- 
pelled to support the poor, they will entirely abandon the 
whole class from which the poor arise, and allow them to 
sink into the lowest depths of ignorance, misery, and degra- 
dation : whereas, if they be forced to maintain all the victims 
of these unhappy circumstances, they will be prompted by 
their own interest to use means for their social improvement, 
so as to prevent them from becoming an intolerable burden 
on themselves. Again, some political economists, of whom 
Dr. Chalmers is the chief, regard all compulsory assess- 
ments for the poor as injurious to society, and maintain that 
private benevolence, if fairly left to itself, is quite adequate to 
the discharge of the duty of providing for them. Other men, 
equally wise and experienced in the world, are altogether 
disbelievers in this alleged power of the principle of benevo- 
lence, and argue, that the only effect of relying on it would 
be to permit the avaricious to escape from all contribution, 
and to throw the burden of the poor entirely on the benevo- 
lent, who, in general, are overwhelmed with demands on 
their bounty. 

Scientific knowledge of human nature, and of the influence 
of external circumstances on happiness, cannot be general, 
when such widely different doctrines, regarding a question 
so momentous, are supported by men of equal profundity 
and respectability. 

The view of it which is presented by the new philosophy, 
is the following : 

The causes of that degree of poverty which amounts to 
destitution, are great defects in the body or mind of the in- 
dividuals who fall into this condition, or in both. The lame, 
the "deaf, and the blind, may be poor through bodily defects j 
and if so, they are the victims of the organic laws, and should 
be comfortably maintained by the more fortunate members 
of society. Their numbers are not great, in proportion to 
well-constituted men, and their maintenance would not be 
felt as a severe tax, if they were the only burdens on the 



CAUSES OF POVERTY. 217 

benevolence of the community. The idiotic belong to the 
same class. All that society can accomplish in regard to 
such persons is, to support comfortably those who exist, 
and to use means to render their numbers as small as possible 
in future generations. This can be accomplished best by 
instructing the community at large in the organic laws, and 
presenting to them every intelligible motive to obedience. 

The most numerous class of destitute poor is that which 
springs from deficiency of size or quality in the brain, or in 
the intellectual region of it, not amounting to idiocy, but 
occasioning so much mental weakness that the individuals 
are not capable of maintaining their own place in the grand 
struggle of social existence. Persons so constituted often 
provide for their own wants, although with difficulty, during 
the vigorous period of their lives, and become helpless and 
a burden on the community in the wane of life. That the 
cause of their falling into destitution is essentially an im- 
perfection in their mental organs, any one may ascertain, 
by qualifying himself to distinguish well-constituted from 
ill-constituted brains, and then going into any of the charity 
workhouses or asylums for adults, and observing the 
heads and temperaments of their inmates. It is obvious, 
that teaching the organic laws and improving the external 
circumstances of society are the most feasible means for 
lessening the numbers of these unfortunate victims in future 
times. 

Another proof that these physiological defects lie at the 
root of the evil of poverty, may be obtained by observing 
the temperament, and size and forms of the heads, of the 
children of the higher and middle classes, and comparing 
them with those of the children of the poor, found in the 
parish charity workhouses. The latter children, with some 
exceptions, spring from parents who are the refuse or dregs 
of the community, and through whose feebleness and vices 
they become burdens on the parish. These children are 
palpably inferior in temperament, and in size or form of brain, 
to the offspring of parents of the middle and higher ranks ; 
and teachers who have been employed in schools consisting 
of children of these superior grades, and who have afterward 
been placed in charge of the children in public charities, 
have remarked an extraordinary difference of native capacity 
between the two ; the children of the pauper asylum being 
much less apt to learn. 

19 



218 CAUSES OF POVERTY. 

Now, these facts, although, as I have said, they go to the 
root of the evil, are generally unknown and unattended to. 
An accomplished manager of the poor of a parish, according 
to the present system, is a man who resists, to the very last 
extremity, every application for charity, and who, when re- 
sistance is no longer possible, obtains the greatest quantity 
of food and raiment for the smallest amount of money. 
Economy in contracts is the grand object ; and those mana- 
gers are covered with glory, who are able to reduce the as- 
sessment on the parish one-half per cent. Without mean- 
ing at all to depreciate the advantages of economy, I remark 
that this mode of management reminds me of the manner 
in which an old relative of my own coped with the rushes, 
which grew too abundantly in one of his fields. He employ- 
ed women, whom he hired at so many pence a day, to pull 
them up ; and if the wages of the women fell from lOd to 
6d or 8d a day, he thought that he had managed the rushes 
to great advantage that year. But it so happened that the 
rushes, like the poor, constantly reappeared, and the labour 
of pulling them up never came to an end. At last, this 
excellent person died, and his son succeeded to the farm. 
This son had received a scientific education, and had heard 
the chemical qualities of soil, and of the various metals and 
minerals which are usually found incorporated with it, ex- 
plained by one professor ; and by another professor he had 
been taught the effect of these and of other circumstances 
on vegetation. He thus discovered that stagnant water is 
the parent of rushes ; and when he succeeded to the farm, 
he cut a deep drain through a high bank, obtained declivity 
to cause the water to flow from the field, and then constructed 
drains through it in every direction. By this means he dried 
the soil ; the rushes disappeared, and have never since been 
seen there ; the annual labour of pulling them up is saved, and 
the expense of it is devoted to farther improvements. 

So long as society shall neglect the causes of poverty, 
and omit to remove them, and so long as they shall confine 
their main efforts to making cheap contracts for supporting 
the poor, so long will they have a constant succession of 
poor to maintain. Nay, there is a great tendency in their 
proceedings to foster the growth of the very poverty which 
so grievously distresses them.* I have said that the chil- 
dren in the charity workhouses have generally low tempera- 
* See note on page 219. 



CAUSES OF POVERTY. 219 

ments and inferior brains. Now, these qualities are the great 
parents of poverty. To prevent these children, therefore, 
from becoming paupers when they shall fall into the decline 
of life, and from rearing an inferior race, also bordering on 
pauperism, it would be necessary to improve, by every possi- 
ble means, their defective organization. This can be done 
only by supplying them with nutritious diet, and paying the 
utmost attention to their physical and mental training. By 
the present system, they are fed on the poorest fare, and 
their training is very imperfectly conducted. They look 
dull, inert, heavy, and lymphatic ; and are not fortified so 
much as they might be against the imperfections of their 
natural constitutions. In feeding pauper children with the 
most moderate quantity of the coarsest and cheapest food, 
means are actually taken to perpetuate the evil ; for bad 
feeding in childhood weakens the body and mind, and con- 
sequently diminishes the power of the individuals to provide 
for themselves. Attention, therefore, ought to be devoted, 
not merely to the support of existing paupers, but also to 
the means of preventing another crop from -springing up in 
the next generation. Our present system may be compared 
to that which the farmer would have pursued, if he had water- 
ed the field after pulling up the rushes, in order to assist na- 
ture in accomplishing a new growth. 

In making these observations, I beg to be understood as 
not blaming any particular managers of the poor for their 
proceedings, or accusing them of neglect of duty. The 
principles which I am now expounding have hitherto been 
unknown to these persons, and are not yet generally ac- 
knowledged by society at large. Public men, therefore, could 
not act on them. But believing them to be founded in na- 
ture, and to be highly important, I use the freedom to an- 
nounce them for general consideration, in the confidence, 
that if they be supported by facts, they will in time become 
practical ; and if they shall be shown not to be true, I shall 
rejoice in their incorrectness being discovered. One fact, at 
all events, cannot be controverted ; namely, that society has 
not yet discovered either the causes or the remedy of pover- 
ty : hence, I conceive the statement of new principles to be 
neither arrogant nor unnecessary ; leaving them, as I do, 
to stand or fall by the result of observation and experience.* 

* The preceeding lecture was written and delivered in 1835, 
and the views of pauperism which it contains were then gene- 



220 
LECTURE XII. 

PAUPERISM AND CRIME. 

Causes of pauperism continued — Indulgence in intoxicating 
liquors — Causes producing love of these ; — Hereditary pre- 
disposition ; Excessive labour with low diet ; Ignorance — 
Effects of commercial convulsions in creating pauperism — 
Duty of supporting the poor — Evils resulting to society from 
neglect of this duty — Removal of the causes of pauperism 
should be aimed at — Legal assessments for the support of 
the poor advocated — Opposition to new opinions is no 
reason for despondency, provided they are sound— Treat- 
ment of criminals — Existing treatment and its failure to 
suppress crime — Light thrown by Phrenology on this subject 
— Three classes of combinations of the mental organs, 
favourable, unfavourable, and middling — Irresistible procli- 
vity of some men to crime — Proposed treatment of this 
class of criminals — Objection as to moral responsibility- 
answered. 

In the immediately preceding lecture, I entered upon the 
consideration of the social duty of providing for the poor. The 
removal of the causes of pauperism, it was observed, ought 
to be attended to, as well as the alleviation of the misery 
attending it. One great cause of pauperism is bodily and 
mental defect ; and it was held that those so afflicted should 
be maintained by society. 

Another cause of pauperism, is the habit of indulging in 
the use of intoxicating liquors. This practice undermines 
the health of the whole nervous system, through which it 
operates most injuriously on the mind. The intoxicating 
fluid stimulates the nervous system directly, by its influence 
on the nerves of the stomach, and excites the whole organs 
of sensation, for the time, into more vivid action. Hence 

rally regarded as theoretical and unfounded. Subsequent 
events have not only proved them to be sound, but have strongly 
excited public attention to the painful fact that, in Scotland, 
pauperism has increased and is rapidly increasing. Professor 
Alison, in his two pamphlets " On the Management of the Poor 
in Scotland," has, in my opinion, demonstrated, by irrefraga- 
ble evidence, that the wretched pittances doled out to the poor 
in this country are inadequate to their comfortable subsistence, 
and that a continually increasing pauperism is the actual and 
inevitable consequence of the deep mental depression and phy-* 
sical degradation in which they habitually exist. 1840. 



CAUSES OF PAUPERISM. 221 

the drunkard enjoys a momentary happiness ; but when the 
stimulus is withdrawn, the tone of the system sinks as far 
below the healthy state, as during intoxication it was raised 
above it. He then experiences a painful prostration of 
strength and vivacity, a feeling of deprivation, and a strong 
craving for a renewed supply of alcohol to recruit his ex- 
hausted vigour. During intoxication, the intellectual facul- 
ties are incapable of making any useful effort, while in the 
intervals between different debauches, the brain is so ex- 
hausted and enfeebled, that it is equally unfit to execute any 
vigorous purpose. The habitual drunkard thus sinks into 
the condition of a complete imbecile, and may become a 
burden on the industrious portion of the community for his 
maintenance.* 

The causes of individuals falling into these habits are 
various. One is a hereditary predisposition. If the parents, 
or one of them, have been habitually addicted to some vice, 
its consequences affect their physical constitution, and they 
transmit, a weakened and disordered organization to their 
children. This doctrine has been ridiculed, as if we taught 
that children are born drunk. They are no more born drunk 
than they are born in a passion ; but they certainly are born 
with conditions of brain that tend ultimately to produce in 
them a love of intoxicating fluids. 

Another cause of the tendency to drunkenness appears 
to be excessive labour with low diet. The nervous energy 
is exhausted through the medium of the muscles, and the 
stimulus of alcohol is felt to be extremely grateful, in restor- 
ing sensations of life, vigour, and enjoyment. This cause 
may be removed by moderating the extent of labour, and 
improving the quantity or the quality of the food. If alcohol 

* The phenomena attending the different stages of intoxi- 
cation appear to indicate that the brain is affected also directly 
in the following manner, although evidence is still wanting to 
render this view certain : Intoxicating liquors increase the 
action of the heart, and cause an increased flow of blood to 
the head. The first effect of this is, to stimulate all the organs 
into increased activity, and to produce feelings of vivacity and 
pleasure. The blood circulates most freely in the largest mental 
organs, because they have the largest bloodvessels. As intoxi- 
cation proceeds, the smaller organs become first overcharged 
with blood, and their functions are impaired. Hence the in- 
tellectual Dowers become first obscured, then the moral senti- 
ments, and lastly the propensities. 
19* 



222 CAUSES OP PAUPERISM. 

were withheld, and a nourishing diet supplied to such mefi, 
they would, after a few weeks, be surprised at the pleasurable 
feelings which they would experience from this better means 
of supplying the waste of their systems. 

An additional cause of intoxication is found in ignorance. 
When an individual enjoys high health and a tolerably well 
developed brain, he feels a craving for enjoyment ; a desire 
to be happy, and to be surrounded by happy friends. If he 
be uneducated and ignorant, his faculties want objects on 
which they may expand themselves, and he discovers that 
intoxicating liquors will excite his mind and give him a vivid 
experience, for the time, of the pleasures of which he is in 
quest. The bottle, for the sake of this artificial stimulus, 
is then resorted to, instead of the objects in nature rehted 
to the faculties, the study of which, and social intercourse 
with virtuous and enlightened men, were intended by the 
Creator as the natural excitements of the mind, calculated 
at once to render us happy, and to improve our external 
condition. This was the real source of the drunkenness 
which disgraced the aristocracy of Britain in the last gene- 
ration. I am old enough to have seen the last dying disgraces 
of that age. The gentlemen were imperfectly educated, had 
few or no mental resources, and betook themselves to drink- 
ing for the sake of mental stimulus, almost as a last resource. 
This view affords also an explanation of the fact that many 
professional men in the law and medicine, who reside in the 
provinces, fall into these pernicious habits. They do not 
find, in their limited sphere of duties, constant stimulus for 
their minds, and they apply to the bottle to eke out their 
enjoyments. 

A more extensive and scientific education is the most 
valuable remedy for these evils. We have seen higher cul- 
tivation barfish drunkenness from all the classes pretending 
to any rank or respectability in society, and the same effect 
may be expected to follow from the extension of education 
downward. 

The last causes of pauperism to which I advert, are the 
great convulsions which occur every few years in our manu- 
facturing and commercial systems, and which, by deranging 
trade, throw many individuals out of employment, give them 
the habit of relying on charity, and sink them so low in their 
habits and in their own estimation, that they never recover 
their independence. 



CAUSES OF PAUPERISM. 223 

If, then, I am correct in the opinion, that the chief causes 
of pauperism are— first, a low temperament and imperfect 
developement of brain, attended with a corresponding men- 
tal imbecility, although not so great as to amount to idiocy ; 
secondly i, hereditary or acquired habits of intoxication, which 
impair the mind by lowering the tone of the whole nervous 
system ; thirdly, gross ignorance ; and fourthly, depression 
arising from commercial disasters — the question, whether 
the poor ought to be provided for by society, is easily solved. 
To leave them destitute would not remove any one of these 
causes, but tend to increase them all To allow our unhap- 
py brethren, who thus appear to be as frequently the victims 
of evil influences over which they have little or no control, 
as of their own misconduct, to perish, or to linger out a 
miserable existence unprotected and unprovided for, not only 
would be a direct infringement of the dictates of Benevo- 
lence and Conscientiousness, which should be our ruling 
feelings, and an outrage on Veneration (seeing that God has 
commanded us to succour and assist them) , but would tend 
directly to the injury of our own interests. 

The fact that the world is arranged by the Creator on 
the principle of dispensing happine.^ to the community in 
proportion to their obedience to the moral law, is here beau- 
tifully exemplified. By neglecting the poor, the number of 
individuals possessing deficient brains and temperaments is 
increased ; the number of drunkards is increased ; and the 
number of the ignorant is increased ; and as society carries 
these wretched beings habitually in its bosom ; as they prowl 
about our houses, haunt our streets, and frequent our high- 
ways, and as we cannot get rid of them, it follows, that we 
must suffer in our property and in our feelings, until we do 
our duty toward them. Nay, we must suffer in our health 
also, for their wretchedness is often the parent of epidemic 
diseases) which do not confine their ravages to them, but 
sweep away indiscriminately the good and the selfish, the 
indolent and the hard hearted, who have allowed the exciting 
causes to grow up into magnitude beside them.* 

* I have already adverted, on p. 219, to the destitute condi* 
tion of the poor, and its tendency to cause the increase of 
pauperism. Professor Alison, in his pamphlet " On the Ma- 
nagement of the Poor in Scotland," has shown that anothei 
of the consequences of their extreme want, is the prevalence 
of epidemic fevers among them in the large towns. This afflic- 



2$4 MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR. 

On the other hand, by applying vigorous measures not only 
to maintain the poor, but to remove the causes of pauperism, 
all these evils may be mitigated, if not entirely removed. 
If a practical knowledge of the organic laws were once 
generally diffused through society, and a sound moral, re- 
ligious, and intellectual education were added, I cannot 
doubt that the causes of pauperism would be unspeakably 
diminished. Phrenology conveys a strong conviction to the 
mind that precepts or knowledge are not sufficient by them- 
selves to ensure correct conduct. The higher faculties of 
the mind must be brought into a state of sufficient vigour to 
be able practically to resist, not only the internal solicita- 
tions of the animal propensities, but the temptations pre- 
sented by the external world, before sound precepts can be 
realized in practice. Now, a favourable state of the organs, 
on the condition of which mental strength or feebleness in 
this world depends, is an indispensable requisite toward the 
possession of this vigour ; and as this fact has not hitherto 
been known — at least, has not been attended to — it seems 
to me probable that society does not yet know a tithe of its 
own resources for mitigating the evils which afflict it. The 
temperance societies are extremely useful in this respect. 
The substitution of comfortable food for intoxicating beve- 
rages has the direct tendency to benefit the whole nervous 
system, and to increase the vigour of the higher powers 
of the mind. Society at large should bend its whole ener- 
gies, directed by sound knowledge, toward the accomplish- 
ment of this end. 

tion is no longer confined to themselves. In 1839, the Fever 
Board and the Directors of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 
reported, that, " notwithstanding every exertion, fever has kept 
its ground in this city ; and that on three different occasions 
within these twenty years, it has assumed the form of an ap- 
palling epidemic ; that its ravages have extend, while its ma- 
lignity has greatly increased — the mortality having risen from 
one in twenty to near one in six ; and it has passed from the 
dwellings of the poor to those of the rich, and prevailed extensively 
among families in easy and affluent circumstances ; that, within 
the last two years, it must have affected at least ten thousand 
of the population of the city." In 1838, one in thirty. Here 
we see the rich falling victims to disease originating in their 
own neglect of the poor. A more striking illustration of the 
mode of operation of the natural laws, and of the certainty of 
the punishment which is inflicted for infringing them, could not 
have been presented. 



MAINTENANCE OF THE POOK. 226 

Holding it, then, to be clearly both the duty and the in- 
terest of society to provide for the poor, the next question 
is, How should this be done : by legal assessment, or by 
voluntary contributions 1 Phrenology enables us to answer 
this question also. The willingness of any individual to 
bestow charity depends not exclusively on the quantity of 
wealth which he possesses, but likewise on the strength 
of the benevolent principles in relation to the selfish in his 
mind. Now, we discover, by observation, that the organs 
of the benevolent and selfish feelings differ very widely in 
relative size in different individuals, and experience supports 
the conclusion which we draw from this fact, that their dis- 
positions to act charitably, or the reverse, are widely different. 
Not only so, but, as the leading principle of our present 
social system is the pursuit of self-interest, it may be stated, 
as a general rule, (allowance being alway s made for individual 
exceptions,) that those in whom the selfish feelings, with 
intellect and prudence, predominate, will possess most wealth ; 
and yet this very combination of faculties will render them 
least willing to bestow. Their wealth and benevolence will 
generally be in the inverse ratio of each other. This in- 
ference, unfortunately, is also supported by facts. It ha3 
frequently been remarked that the humble classes of society, 
and also the poorer members of these classes, bestow more 
charity, in proportion to their incomes, than the very wealthy. 
To trust to voluntary contributions, therefore, would be to 
exempt thousands who are most able, but least willing, to 
bear the burden, and to double it on those who are most 
willing, but least able, to support it.* 

* Professor Alison has arrived at the same conclusions by 
means of practical observation. He says, " In following out 
this inquiry (into the condition of the poor) 1 have long since 
formed, and do not scruple to express, an opinion, which I 
cannot expect to be in the first instance either well received 
or generally credited in this country, viz., tkatthe higher ranks 
in Scotland do much less (and what they do, less systemati- 
cally, and therefore less effectually) for the relief of poverty 
and of sufferings resulting from it, than those of any other 
country in Europe which is really well regulated." And again, 
" many respectable citizens (of Edinburgh) never appear among 
the subscribers to any public charity, at the same time that 
they steadily withstand all solicitations for private alms, and 
thus reduce the practice of this Christian duty (charity) to the 
utmost possible simplicity." — On the Management of the Poor 
in Scotland, p. 11 and 23. 



226 MAINTENANCE OP THE POOR. 

It appears to me that while the present principles of social 
action enjoy the ascendency, compulsory assessment is 
indispensable ; and I am inclined to carry it the length of 
assessing for the support of the poor in all their forms. 
There are voluntary societies for supporting the destitute 
sick, for maintaining a House of Refuge, the Deaf and Dumb 
Institution, the Blind Asylum, the Royal Infirmary, and 
many other charitable institutions. I have been told that 
these, and afl the other public charities of Edinburgh, are 
supported by about fifteen hundred benevolent individuals, 
many of whom subscribe to them all, and most of whom 
subscribe to several, while the remaining twenty thousand 
or thirty thousand of the adult population of the city and 
suburbs never contribute a farthing to these objects. In a 
sound social system this ought not to be the case. It is a 
social duty incumbent on us all to alleviate the calamities of 
our unfortunate, and even of our guilty, brethren ; and until 
our moral principles shall be so quickened, as to induce us 
all to discharge our shares of this duty voluntarily, we should 
be compelled to do so by law. 

I regret to say that one of the most striking examples of 
the undisguised predominance of the selfish principle is af- 
forded by the society to which I professionally belong. The 
members of the College of Justice are exempted, by an old 
act of parliament, from assessments for supporting the poor 
and providing for the clergy in this city. I shall consider 
the question of the church at a subsequent stage of this 
course, but in the meantime remark, that not the shadow- 
of a reason can be advanced for that exemption, in so far as 
regards the support of the poor ; yet the society of Writers 
to the Signet have repeatedly refused, although urgently 
requested to waive this privilege, and bear their proportion, 
along with the other citizens, of this Christian burden. It 
is encouraging, however, to the believers in the tendency of 
the moral sentiments to gain the ultimate ascendency to 
learn, that although in the society to which I allude, the 
minority was only eleven, or some such small number, on 
the first division which took place for foregoing the exemp- 
tion, yet, in consequence of discussion, it has increased at 
every subsequent division, and is now equal to very nearly 
one-half of the society ; so that I have no doubt that, in 
time, it will be voluntarily relinquished. 

On another point I am disposed to carry our social dutie8 



MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR. 227 

farther than is generally done. I regard the money applied 
to the maintenance of the poor as, at present, to a great 
extent wasted, in consequence of no efficient measures being 
adopted by society to check pauperism at its roots. If I am 
correct in ascribing it to a low temperament, imperfect 
developement of brain, habits of intoxication, ignorance, and 
commercial fluctuations, efficient means must be used to 
remove these causes, before it can either cease, or be effec- 
tually diminished ; and as the removal of them would, in the 
end, be the best policy for both the public and the poor, I 
am humbly of opinion that the community, if they were alive 
to their own interests, as well as to their duty, would 
supply the pecuniary means for laying the axe to the root 
of the tree, and, by a rational education, and elevation of 
the physical and mental condition of the lower classes of 
society, would bring pauperism to a close, or at all events 
diminish its present gigantic and increasing dimensions. 
Here the regret always occurs, that our senseless wars should 
have wasted so much capital that we must provide twenty- 
seven millions of pounds sterling, annually, for ever, to pay 
the interest on it ; a sum which, but for these wars, might 
have been applied to the moral advancement of society, and 
have carried a thousand blessings in its train. If our moral 
sentiments were once rendered as active as our propensities 
have been, and I fear still are, we should apply our public 
assessments to benevolent and beneficial objects, render 
them liberal in proportion to the magnitude of the work to 
be accomplished, and pay them with a hearty good will, 
because they would all return to ourselves in social blessings. 
The question is frequently asked, How are these princi- 
ples, even supposing them to be founded in nature, ever to 
be carried into execution, seeing that the opinions of society 
are strongly opposed to them * In answer, I appeal to the 
experience of the world. All new opinions are rejected, 
and their authors persecuted or ridiculed at first ; but, in all 
instances in which they have been true, they have been 
ultimately adopted. Galileo was imprisoned for proclaiming 
the first principles of a philosophical astronomy. Fifty 
year3 elapsed before his opinions made any perceptible pro- 
gress, but now they are taught in schools and colleges, and 
the mariner guides his ship by them on the ocean. It was 
the same in regard to the circulation of the blood, and it 
will be the same in regard to the application of the new 



228 TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 

philosophy to the social improvement of man. The present 
generation will descend, contemning it, to their graves, but, 
if it be true, we are sowing in young minds seeds that will 
grow, flourish, and ripen into an abundant harvest of practical 
fruits in due season. A thousand years are with the Lord 
as one day, and with society a hundred years are as one day 
in the life of an individual. Let us sedulously sow the seed, 
therefore, trusting that, if sound and good, it will not perish 
by the way-side, but bring forth fruits of kindness, peace, 
and love, in the appointed season. 

I forbear suggesting any particular plan by which the 
objects now detailed may be accomplished ; because no plan 
can become practical until the public mind be instructed in 
the principles, and convinced of the truth of the doctrines 
which I am now teaching ; and whenever they shall be so 
convinced, they will devise plans for themselves with infi- 
nitely greater facility and success than we can pretend to 
do, who live only in the dawn of the brighter day. 

The next social duty to which I advert, relates to the 
treatment of criminals, or of those individuals who commit 
offences against the persons or property of the members of 
the community. The present practice is to leave every man 
to the freedom of his own will, until he have committed an 
offence ; in other words, until he have seriously injured his 
neighbour ; and then to employ, at the public expense, 
officers of justice to detect him, witnesses to prove his crime, 
a jury to convict him, judges to condemn him, and jailers to 
imprison, or executioners to put him to death, according as 
the judges shall have decreed. It will be observed, that in 
all this proceeding, there is no inquiry into the causes which 
led to the crime, into the remedies for crime, or into the 
effects of the treatment administered on the offender, or on 
society ; yet every one of these points ought to be con- 
sidered, and clearly understood, before we can be in a 
condition to judge correctly of our social duties in regard to 
the treatment of criminals. 

As to the cause of crime, there is a stange inconsistency 
between our theological and legal standards on the proclivity 
of the human mind to evil. The articles of our church teach 
lis that the human heart is deceitful above all things and 
desperately wicked ; while, legally, every man is regarded 
as being so completely a moral agent, that he can command 
not only his actions, but his inclinations and his will ; and 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 229 

that hence, when a clear law, which his intellect can com- 
prehend, is laid down for his guidance, he is a just and pro- 
per subject for punishment if he infringe it. The premises 
and the conclusion in this last view are consistent with each 
other, and if this were a correct description of human nature, 
there would be no gainsaying the propriety of the practice. 
We should still, however, find a difficulty in accounting for 
our want of success in putting an end to crime ; for, if these 
principles of criminal legislation and punitive infliction be 
sound, it appears a strange anomaly that crime has every- 
where, and in every age, abounded most were punishment, 
especially severe punishment, has been most extensively 
administered, and that it has abated in all countries where 
penal infliction has become mild and merciful. There is, 
however, an error in this view of human nature, which phre- 
nology enables us to detect. 

It appears incredible, that in a well governed country 
like this, where detection and punishment are almost cer- 
tain to follow crime, any man should infringe the law, if he 
were not urged by impulses which obtain the mastery over 
conscience and reason. We need not waste time, however, 
in speculating on this subject, but may come at once to facts. 

As mentioned in a former lecture, the brain may be divided 
into three great regions ; those of the Animal Propensities, 
Moral Sentiments, and Intellectual Faculties. 

In some individuals the organs of the propensities bear 
the ascendency, in point of size, over those of the moral and 
intellectual faculties. Such men feel the impulses of passion 
very strongly, and are internally urged by vigorous selfish 
desires, which vehemently crave for gratification ; while, on 
the other hand, they possess only feeble glimpses of moral 
obligation, and a glimmering of intellectual perception. 
"When beings thus constituted are placed in a dense society, 
in which every man is struggling to acquire property and 
to advance his own fortunes, they commence the same 
career ; but they take the road that first presents itself to 
their own peculiar minds ; they are impatient to obtain 
gratification of their passions ; they feel few restraints from 
conscience or religion, as to the mode of doing so ; they are 
greatly deficient in intellectual capacity, in patience, per- 
severance, and acquired skill ; and from all these causes 
they rush to crime, as the directest method of realizing 
pleasure. 

20 



23U CAUSES OF CRIME. 

The class of minds which forms the greatest contrast 
to this one, is that in which the moral and intellectual or- 
gans decidedly predominate over those of the animal propen- 
sities. Individuals thus constituted have naturally strong 
feelings of moral and religious obligation, and vigorous in- 
tellectual perceptions, while the solicitations of their animal 
passions are relatively moderate. 

The third class is intermediate between these two. They 
have the organs of the propensities, of the moral sentiments, 
and of the intellectual faculties, nearly in a state of equili- 
brium. They have strong passions, but they have also 
strong powers of moral and religious emotion, and of intel- 
lectual perception. 

Fortunately, the lowest class of minds is not numerous. 
The highest class appears to me to abound extensively ; 
while the middle class is also numerous. The middle and 
the highest classes are at least as twenty to one, in compari- 
son with the lowest. 

I am aware that many of my present audience, who have 
not attended to phrenology, may regard these, not as facts, 
but as dangerous fancies and groundless speculations. To 
such persons I can only say, that if they will take the same 
means that phrenologists have taken, to discover whether 
these are truths in nature or not, they will find it as impos- 
sible to doubt of their reality, as of the existence of the sun 
at noon-day ; and there is no rule of philosophy by which 
facts should be disregarded, merely because they are un- 
known to those who have never taken the trouble to observe 
them. I respectfully solicit you to consider that the brain 
is not of human creation, but the workmanship of God, and 
that it is a most pernicious error to regard its functions and 
its influence on the mental dispositions with indifference. I 
therefore assume that the views now presented are founded 
in nature, and proceed to apply them to elucidation of eur 
social duties in the treatment of criminals. 

In the case of persons possessing the lowest class of 
brains, we are presented with beings whose tendencies to 
crime are naturally very strong, and whose powers of moral 
guidance and restraint are very feeble. We permit such 
individuals to move at large, in a state of society in which 
intoxicating liquors, calculated to excite and gratify their 
animal propensities, are abundant and easily obtained, and 
in which property, the great means of procuring pleasure, 



CAUSES OF CRIME. 231 

is everywhere exposed to their appropriation ; we proclaim 
the law, that if they invade this property, or if, in the ecsta- 
sies of their drunken excitement, they commit violence on 
each other, or on the other members of the community, they 
shall be imprisoned, banished, or hanged, according to the 
degree of their offence ; and, in that condition of things, we 
leave them to the free action of their own faculties and the 
influence of external circumstances. 

It appears a self-evident proposition, that if such men are 
actuated by strong animal passions, (a proposition which few 
will dispute,) there must be an antagonist power, of some 
kind or other, to restrain and guide them, before they can 
be led to virtue or withheld from vice. Now, the well con- 
stituted members of society, judging from their own minds, 
assume that these individuals possess moral feelings and 
intellectual capacities adequate to this object, if they choose 
to apply them. On the other hand, the conviction forced on 
me by observation, not only of the brain, but of the lives and 
histories of great and habitual criminals, is, that they do not 
enjoy these controlling powers in an adequate degree to 
enable them successfully to resist the temptations presented 
by their passions and external circumstances. In treating 
of the foundations of moral obligation, I mentioned that I 
had repeatedly gone to jails, and requested the jailers to 
write down the character and crimes of the most distinguish- 
ed inmates of the prisons ; that, before seeing these, descrip- 
tions, I had examined their heads and written down the 
dispositions and probable crimes which I inferred from the 
developement of their brains, and that the two had remarka- 
bly corresponded. This could not have happened, unless 
the brain had in such cases a real influence in determining 
the actions of the individual. Especially, wherever the 
moral organs and the intellectual organs were very deficient, 
and the organs of the propensities large, I found the whole 
life to have been devoted to crime, and to nothing else. I saw 
a criminal of this description, who had been sent to the 
lunatic asylum in Dublin, in consequence of the belief that 
a life of such undeviating wickedness as he had led could 
result only frc a insanity ; for he had repeatedly undergone 
every species of punishment, civil and military, short of 
death, and had also been sentenced to death — all without 
effect. Yet the physician assured me that he was not in- 
sane, in the usual acceptation of the term ; that all his 



232 CAUSES OF CRIME. 

mental organs and perceptions, so far as he possessed them, 
were sound, but that he had scarcely any natural capacity 
of feeling or comprehending the dictates of moral obligation, 
while he was subject to the most energetic action of the 
animal propensities whenever an external cause of excite- 
ment presented itself. In him the brain, in the region of 
the propensities, was enormously large, and very deficient 
in the region of the moral sentiments. The physician, Dr. 
Crawford, remarked, that he considered him most properly 
treated when he was handed over to the lunatic asylum, 
because, although his brain was not diseased, the extreme 
deficiency in the moral organs rendered him morally blind, 
just as the want of eyes would render a man incapable of 
seeing. 

In October, 1835, 1 saw another example of the same kind 
in the jail of Newcastle, in the person of an old man of 73, 
who was then under sentence of transportation for theft, 
and whose whole life had been spent in crime. He had 
been twice transported, and at the age of 73 was still in the 
hands of justice, to suffer for his offences against the law.* 
These are facts, and being facts, it is God who has ordained 
them. Phrenologists are no more answerable for them, or 
their consequences, than the anatomist is answerable for 
blindness, when he demonstrates that the cause of that 
malady is a defect in the structure of the eye. Blame ap- 
pears to me to lie with those persons who, under an infatua- 
tion of prejudice, refuse to examine into these most impor- 
tant facts when they are offered to their consideration, and 
who resolutely decline to give effect to them in the treatment 
of criminals. 

The question now presents itself, What mode of treat- 
ment does this view of the natural dispositions of criminals 
suggest? Every one is capable of understanding, that if 
the optic nerve be too feeble to allow of perfect vision, or 

* In October, 1839, I visited the state-prison of Connecticut, 
at Weathersfield, near Hartford, in presence of the Rev. Mr. 
Gallaudet, Principal Totten, and other gentlemen, and saw a 
man in whose head the moral organs were very deficient and the 
animal organs large. Mr. Pilsbury, the superintendent of the 
prison, stated that this man had passed thirty years of his life 
in the state-prison, under four several sentences, and that he 
had no doubt, that, if then liberated, he would in a week be 
again engaged in crime. 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 233 

the auditory nerve too small to permit complete hearing, the 
persons thus afflicted should not be placed in situations in 
which perfect vision and hearing are necessary to enable 
them to avoid doing evil ; nay, it will also be granted, with- 
out much difficulty, that deficiency in the orgar of Tune 
nay be the cause why some individuals have no perception 
of melody ; and it will be admitted, that, on this account, it 
would be cruel to prescribe to them the task of learning to 
play even a simple air, under pain of being severely punished 
if they failed. But most people immediately demur when 
we assure them that some human beings exist, who, in con- 
sequence of deficiency in the moral organs, are as blind to 
the dictates of benevolence and justice, as the others are 
deaf to melody, and that it is equally cruel to prescribe to 
them, as the law does, the practice of moral duties, and then 
to punish them severely because they fail. Yet the con- 
clusion that this treatment is cruel is inevitable, if the pre- 
mises be sound. 

What, then, should be done with this class of beings 1 
for I am speaking only of a class small in comparison with 
the great mass of society. The established mode of treating 
them by inflicting punishment has not been successful. 
Those who object to the new views, constantly forget that 
the old method has been an eminent failure — that is to say, 
that crime has gone on increasing in amount, in proportion 
as punishment has been abundantly administered ; and they 
shut their eyes to the conclusion which experience has 
established, that be the causes of crime what they may, 
punishment has not yet been successful in removing them, 
and that therefore it cannot, on any grounds of reason, be 
maintained to be of itself sufficient for this purpose. The 
new philosophy dictates that the idea of punishment, consi- 
dered as mere retribution, should be discarded. Punish- 
ment, in this sense, really means vengeance ; and the desire 
for inflicting it arises from an erroneous conception of the 
structure and condition of the criminal mind, and from the 
activity of our own passions, which are excited by the 
injuries inflicted on us by the actions and outrages of this 
class of persons. Our duty is to withdraw external temp- 
tation, and to supply, by physical restraint, that deficiency 
of moral control which is the great imperfection of their 
minds. We should treat them as moral patients. They 
should be placed in penitentiaries where they could be 
20* 



234 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

prevented from abusing their faculties, yet be humanely 
treated, and permitted to enjoy as much of liberty and 
comfort as they could sustain without injuring themselves 
or their fellow-men. They should be taught morality, 
knowledge, and religion, so far as their faculties enable 
them to learn ; and they should be trained to industry. 
This mode of treatment would render their lives happier 
than they could ever be were their persons left at large in 
society, and it would make them also useful. I consider 
the restoration of this class of persons to the possession of a 
moral self-control as nearly hopeless : they resemble those 
who are blind and deaf from irremediable defects in the 
organs of sight and hearing. If, however, by long restraint 
and moral training and instruction, they should ever become 
capable of self-guidance, they should be viewed as patients 
who have recovered, and be liberated, on the understanding 
that if they should relapse into immoral habits, they should 
be restored to their places in the asylum.* 

The objection is frequently stated that this doctrine 
abolishes responsibility ; but I am at a loss to comprehend 
the exact import of this objection. As formerly mentioned, 
the distinction between right and wrong does not depend on 
the freedom of the human will, as many persons suppose, 
but on the constitution of our faculties. Every action is 
morally right which gratifies our sentiments of Benevolence, 
Veneration, and Conscientiousness, enlightened by intellect ; 
and every action is wrong which outrages or offends them. 
Hence, if we see a furious madman or a mischievous idiot 
(whom no one supposes to be a free agent) burning a house 
or murdering a child, we are compelled, by our whole moral 
faculties, to condemn such actions as wrong, and to arrest 
the perpetrator of them in his wild career. Now, the case 
of the class of offenders which we have been discussing is 
precisely analogous. Like the madman, they act under the 
influence of uncontrollable passions, existing, in their case, 
in consequence of the natural predominance of certain 

* I have conversed on the subject of the irreclaimable 
dispositions of this class of criminals, with intelligent and 
humane superintendents of prisons in Britain and the United 
States of America, and they have expressed a decided convic- 
tion that there are prisoners whom no punishment will recall 
to virtue, but who, when liberated, constantly recommence 
their career of crime. 



TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 235 

organs in the brain, and in his, from ascendency of the 
passions produced by cerebral disease. Society absolves 
idiots and the insane from punishment, and we only plead 
that the class of these unfortunate beings is really more 
extensive than the law at present recognises it to be. The 
actions of the morally insane, whom we wish to include in 
it, are without hesitation condemned, and we never doubt 
that we ought to stop their outrages, although we do not 
regard the men as guilty. The only question, therefore, is, 
By what means may their actions be most effectually 
arrested 1 The disciples of the old school answer, that thi3 
may be best done by punishment ; but in doing so, they turn 
a deaf ear to the lessons of experience, which proclaim only 
the failure of this treatment in times past ; they close their 
understandings against the examination of new facts, which 
promise to account for that failure ; they assume, in oppo- 
sition to both philosophy and experience, that these men can 
act rightly if they choose, and that they can choose so to 
act ; and finally, by virtue of these prejudices, errors, and 
false assumptions, they hold themselves absolved from all 
obligation to alter their proceedings ; and without considera- 
tion for the real welfare either of society or of the offenders, 
they indulge their own animal resentment by delivering over 
the infringers of the law to jailers and executioners, to be 
punished ior doing what their defective mental constitution 
rendered it impossible for them to avoid committing. There 
is no wonder that crime does not diminish under such a 
form of administration. 

The disciples of the new philosophy, on the other hand, 
answer the question by appealing to experience ; by looking 
at facts ; by consulting reason ; by regarding the advantage 
at once of the criminal and of society : they say, that 
physical and moral restraint are the only effectual remedies 
for this great evil ; that these should be unhesitatingly 
applied — not vindictively, but in affection and humanity ; 
and that then the offences of this class of criminals will be 
diminished in number. 

There remain two other classes of minds to be considered 
in relation to criminal legislation — those whose organs of 
propensity, moral sentiment, and intellect, are pretty equally 
balanced, and those in whom the moral and intellectual 
faculties predominate ; but the consideration of these must 
be reserved till the next lecture. 



236 
LECTURE XIII. 

TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS CONTINUED. 

Criminals in whom the moral and intellectual organs are con- 
siderably developed — Influence of external circumstances 
on this class— Doctrrne of regeneration — Importance of 
attending to the functions of the brain in reference to this 
subject, and the treatment of criminals — Power of society 
over the conduct of men possessing brains of the middle class 
— Case of a criminal made so by circumstances — Expedien- 
cy of keeping certain men from temptation — Thefts by post- 
office officials — Aid furnished by Phrenology in selecting 
persons to fill confidential situations — Punishment of crimi- 
nals — Objects of punishment — Its legitimate ends are to 
protect society by example, and to reform the offenders — 
Means of effecting these purposes — Confinement — Employ- 
ment — Unsatisfactory state of our existing prisons — Moral 
improvement of criminals. 

The second class of heads to which I directed your 
attention, is that in which the organs of the animal propen- 
sities, of the moral sentiments, and of the intellectual 
faculties, are all large, and nearly in equilibrium. In such 
individuals the large organs of the propensities give rise to 
vivid manifestations of the animal feelings, but the large 
organs of the moral sentiments and intellect produce also 
strong impulses of moral emotion and of intellectual per- 
ception. In their practical conduct, therefore, they are, to a 
remarkable extent, the creatures of external circumstances. 
If one of them be born of profligate parents, and abandoned 
to idleness, intoxication, and crime, his whole lower organs 
will thus, from infancy, be presented with objects calculated 
to call them into vivid action, while his moral sentiments 
will receive no proportionate training. The intellectual 
faculties will be employed only in serving and assisting the 
propensities. They will be denied all rational and useful 
instruction, while they will be sharpened to perpetrate crime 
and to avoid punishment. An individual thus constituted 
and trained will become an habitual criminal, and he will 
be the more dangerous on account of the moral and intel- 
lectual faculties which he possesses. These will give him 
an air of intelligence and plausibility, which will enable him 
only the more successfully to deceive, or to obtain access 



DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION. 237 

to places of trust in which he may commit the more 
extensive peculations. 

If, on the other hand, an individual thus constituted be 
placed from infancy in the bosom of a moral, intelligent, 
and religious family, who shall present few or no tempta- 
tions to his propensities, but many powerful and agreeable 
excitements to his higher faculties ; if he shall have passed 
the period of youth under this influence, and in early 
manhood have been ushered into society with all the advan- 
tages of a respectable character, and been received and 
cherished by the virtuous as one of themselves ; then his 
moral and intellectual faculties may assume and maintain 
the ascendency through life. 

If, again, an individual of this class have been religiously 
educated, but, at an early period of life, have left home, and 
been much thrown upon the world, that is to say, left to 
associate with persons of indifferent characters and disposi- 
tions, he may gradually deteriorate in his mental condition. 
In the prime of manhood and blaze of his passions, he may 
be not a little profligate and disreputable in his conduct : 
but, as he advances in life, the energy of the animal organs 
will begin to decay ; they will be exhausted by excessive 
indulgence ; the moral organs may recover an activity which 
has long been unknown to them ; his early religious impres- 
sions may resume their ascendency ; he may perhaps sustain 
afflictions in his health, in his family, or in his worldly 
circumstances ; (all which have a tendency, for the time, to 
quell the energy of the animal passions, and to allow the 
higher feelings freer scope for action ;) and, under the influ- 
ence of these combined causes and circumstances, he may 
come forth a repentant sinner and a reformed man. 

In religion his process is generally called regeneration. 
According to my observation, the men who are converted 
and reformed from habitual profligacy, and who continue, 
afterward, permanently moral and religious characters, all 
possess this combination of brain. They become profligates 
at first from the energetic action of large organs of the 
animal propensities ; and when they are converted, and con- 
tinue to be respectable Christians after their conversion, they 
act under the control of their moral and intellectual organs. 

I am aware that, in making this statement, I am treading 
on delicate ground ; because many sincere and excellent 
persons believe that these results flow from the influence 



238 DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION. 

of the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit operates in re- 
generating sinners altogether independently of the laws of 
organization ; in short, that the influence is miraculous. 
Without questioning the influence of the Spirit in regene- 
ration, (a point of doctrine which is purely theological, and 
does not fall within the scope of these lectures,) I observe 
that the real question is, Whether the Spirit operates in 
harmony with, or without, reference and even in direct op- 
position to, the laws of organization 1 I feel myself con- 
strained by the dictates of truth to say, that my observations 
on actual eases lead to the conclusion, that the action is 
uniformly in harmony with these laws. The brain and its 
laws proceed from God himself. To believe, therefore, that 
God establishes laws in nature, and prescribes to the human 
understanding a certain line of action as obedience to them ; 
and at the same instant promises the influence of his Spirit 
in such a manner as to set therh all at nought, and to produce 
the same beneficial results without such obedience, seems 
to me little calculated to promote the glory of God, or to 
benefit the human race. 

Be it observed, that I do not at all dispute the power of 
God to operate independently of the natural laws : the very 
idea of his being omnipotent, implies power to do according 
to his pleasure, in all circumstances and times. My pro- 
position is simply this — that the age of miracles being past, 
it does not now please God to operate on the human mind 
either independently of, or in contradiction to, the laws of 
organization instituted by himself. This reduces the ques- 
tion, not to one respecting God's power, for we all grant 
this to be boundless, but to one of fact — whether it pleases 
Him actually to manifest his power over the human mind, 
always in harmony with, or sometimes independently of, and 
at other times in contradiction to, the laws of organization ; 
and cnis fact, like any other, must be determined by experi- 
ence and observation. Now, I humbly report the results of 
my own observation ; and say that, although I have seen a 
number of men of renewed lives, I have never met with one 
possessing a brain of the lowest character, who continued per- 
manently moral amid the ordinary temptations of the world. 
On the contrary, I have seen these regenerated men uni- 
formly to possess the brain in which the organs of the animal 
propensities, the moral sentiments, and the intellect, were 
all considerably developed ; so that in these instances th8 



DOCTRINE OP REGENERATION. 239 

influence of religion seemed to me to operate completely in 
harmony with the organic laws. That influence cast the 
balance in favour of the higher sentiments, gave them the 
permanent ascendency, and hence produced the regenerated 
character. 

These observations can be met, not by argument, but by 
counter facts. If any one will show me cases in which men, 
possessing the defective brains of idiots, or the diseased 
brains of insanity, have, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
been at once converted into rational and pious Christians, 
these will completely overthrow my conclusions ; because 
they will show unequivocally that it does please God, in 
some instances, to operate on the mind, even in our day, 
independently of, or in contradiction to, the laws of organi- 
zation. Nay, if examples shall be produced of men possess- 
ing the worst brains, becoming permanently, by the influence 
of religion, excellent practical Christians, I shall yield the 
point. But no such examples have yet been adduced. On 
the contrary, we see individuals whose heads are less than 
thirteen inches in circumference at the level of the eyebrows 
and occipital spine, continue irretrievable idiots through 
life ; and we see madmen continue insane until iheir brains 
are restored to health by natural means. Nay, farther, I 
was told by the late Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson, who attend- 
ed Mary Mackinnon, the mistress of a brothel, while under 
sentence of death for murder, that he found it impossible, 
on account of a very great natural incapacity of mind, to 
convey to her any precise views or feelings of religion, or 
of the heinousness of her guilt, and that he was greatly 
grieved to observe, that nearly all that he said fell powerless, 
without making any impression on her mind, or if it did 
rouse any feeling, this lasted only for a moment. If you 
examine the developement of her head, as shown in the cast, 
you will find that the moral and intellectual organs are very 
deficient. She was, in regard to moral, intellectual, and re- 
ligious impressions, nearly in the same state in which a 
person who possesses an extremely small organ of Tune is 
in regard to melody. Either he does not perceive the melody 
at all, or, if he does, the impression dies instantly when the 
instrument has ceased to sound. 

Perhaps some of you may be of opinion that this is a 
discussion which belongs more to theology than to moral 
philosophy, and that a miscellaneous audience are not the 



240 DOCTRINE OP REGENERATION. 

proper persons to whom to address remarks on so grave a 
subject. The question regarding what is the scriptural 
doctrine touching regeneration belongs to theology, and I 
avoid all discussion of it ; but assuming it to be the scrip- 
tural doctrine, the question, Does the Holy Spirit act in 
harmony with, or in contradiction to, the laws of organiza- 
tion 1 is one which belongs to philosophy. The question, 
indeed, is a fundamental one in moral philosophy ; because, 
if the laws of nature, on which alone philosophy rests, are 
liable, in the case of morals, to be traversed by divine 
influences operating independently of, or in contradiction to, 
them, moral philosophy can have no foundation. There 
maybe a theology comprising a code of moral duty, founded 
on revelation ; but assuredly there can be no philosophy of 
morals founded on nature. In like manner there can be no 
natural religion ; because all our scientific observations and 
conclusions would be constantly liable to be falsified, and 
rendered worse than useless, by a supernatural influence 
producing results entirely independent of, or in contradiction 
to, the causes which were presented in nature for the gui- 
dance of our understandings. This question, therefore, is 
not only important, but, as I have said, fundamental to a 
course of moral philosophy ; and I could not consistently 
avoid introducing it. Many theologians deny that any sound 
philosophy of morals can be drawn from the study of nature^ 
and found morals, as well as religion, exclusively on reve- 
lation. It appears to me that they err in this conclusion ; 
and that theology will be improved, when divines become 
acquainted with the natural constitution of the human facul- 
ties and their spheres of action. 

I beg you to observe, that, in the manner in which I submit 
this question to your consideration, it assumes a different 
aspect from that in which it generally appears. In the 
discussions which commonly take place on it, we find argu- 
ments and opinions stated against arguments and opinions ; 
and the result is generally mere unprofitable disputation. 
In the present case, I adduce facts — in other words, God's 
will written in his works ; and these are placed, not against 
the Bible, (for, be it observed, there is no declaration in 
scripture that the Holy Spirit operates independently of, or 
in contradiction to, the natural laws,) but against human 
inferences unwarrantably (as it appears to me) drawn from 
scripture, that this is the case. It is God's facts in nature 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 241 

which we place against human inferences deduced from 
scripture ; and these inferences too, deduced at first, and 
now insisted on, by men who were, and are, entirely igno- 
rant of the facts in question. 

A second reason for introducing this subject is, that I 
consider it to be of great importance that religious persons 
should be correctly informed concerning the facts. If you 
examine the lists of the members of the most useful and 
benevolent societies all over the country, and especially of 
prison-discipline societies, you will discover that individuals 
distinguished for their religious character form a large and 
a highly influential proportion of them. These persons act 
boldly and conscientiously on their own principles ; and if, 
in any respect, their views happen to be erroneous, they 
become, by their very sincerity, union, and devotion, the most 
formidable enemies to improvement. In consequence of 
profound ignorance of the facts in nature which I have 
stated, this class of persons, or at least many of them, are 
alarmed at the doctrine of the influence of the brain on the 
mental dispositions, and oppose the practical application of 
the views which it dictates in criminal legislation and prison- 
discipline ; and they obstinately refuse to inquire into the 
facts, because they imagine that they have the warrant of 
scripture for maintaining that they cannot be true. This 
conduct is unphilosophical, and sheds no lustre on religion. 
It impedes the progress of truth, and greatly retards the 
practical application of the natural laws to the removal of 
one of the greatest evils with which society is afflicted. 
This is no gratuitous supposition on my part ; because I 
know, from the best authority, that within these few weeks ; 
when the prison-discipline society of this city was formed, 
religious men specially objected to the admission of an in- 
dividual into that society, because he was known to be a 
phrenologist and to hold the opinions which I am here ex- 
pounding : in other words, an individual who had studied 
and observed the Creator's laws in regard to the influence 
of the brain on the mental dispositions, was deliberately 
excluded from that society, lest he should induce it to act 
on the knowledge of these laws. You may judge of the 
wisdom of this proceeding. 

Thirdly, I introduce this subject because, from the exten- 
sive observations which have been made by Dr. Gall, Dr. 
Spurzheim, and their followers, during the last five and thirty 
21 



$42 PREVENTION OF CRIME. 

years, in many parts of the world, I have the most complete 
conviction that the facts which I now state are true, and 
that they will inevitably prevail ; and that, whenever they 
do prevail, the enemies of religion will be furnished with a 
new weapon with which to assail her, by the opposition 
which religious persons are now making to improvements 
in the treatment of criminals, in ignorance, as I have said, 
of these facts and of their inevitable consequences. They 
will point to that opposition, and proclaim, as they have 
often done, that religion sets herself forward as the enemy 
of all philosophy, and of every moral and social improvement 
which does not emanate from her own professors. Such 
an accusation will be most unfounded when directed against 
religion ; because it will be applicable only to a few religious 
men, or to some ill informed and dogmatical individuals ; 
but only the candid will give effect to this distinction, and 
it therefore becomes every sincere friend to the best and 
holiest of causes, not to give occasion to the scoffer to point 
the finger of contempt at it, by resisting truth. 

To return to the subject from which we have digressed, 
I observe, that in the case of this class of brains, in which 
the organs of the propensities, moral sentiments, and in- 
tellectual faculties, are nearly in equilibrium, society enjoys 
a great power in producing good or evil. If* by neglecting 
education, by encouraging the use of intoxicating liquors, 
by bringing on commercial convulsions attended with extreme 
destitution, society allow men possessing this combination 
of mental organs to be thrown back, as it were, on their 
animal propensities, it may expect to rear a continual suc- 
cession of criminals.* If, by a thorough and all-pervading 

* Moral training, such as is practised in Wilderspin's infant- 
schools, is of great importance as a means of directing the 
faculties to proper objects. And phrenology, when taught to 
children as the philosophy of their own minds, will greatly aid 
parents and teachers in communicating to them . correct and 
practical views of the proper spheres of action of their various 
faculties. While this sheet is in the press, 1 have observed 
an instance of the want of such knowledge and training lead- 
ing to painful results. A female servant, a cook, who fell under 
my notice, had a bilious and nervous temperament, which gave 
great mental activity, a large Alimentiveness, Destructiveness, 
and Acquisitiveness, with a very large Secretiveness. Along 
with these were combined a very superior developement of the 
intellectual organs, large Benevolence and Veneration, very 
large Love of Approbation, and full, but not large, Conscien- 



PREVENTION OF CRIME. 243 

training and education, moral, religious, and intellectual ; 
by the best regulated social institutions, providing steady 
employment, with adequate remuneration ; and also by 
affording opportunities for innocent recreation ; this class of 
men shall be led to seek their chief enjoyments from their 
moral and intellectual faculties, and to restrain their animal 
propensities, they may be effectually saved from the pit of 
perdition, and prevented from invading the property and peace 
of society. It is from this class that the great body of 
criminals arises ; and as their conduct is determined, to a 
great extent, by their external circumstances, the only means 
of preventing them from becoming criminals is, to fortify 
their higher faculties by training and education, and to re- 
move external temptation by improvement, as far as possi- 
ble, of our social habits and institutions. 

There are instances of individuals committing crime, who 
do not belong precisely to either of the classes which I have 
described, but who have, perhaps, one organ, such as Acquisi- 
tiveness, in great excess, or another, such as Conscientious- 
ness, extremely deficient. These individuals occasionally 
commit crime, under strong temptation, although their dis- 
positions, in all other points, are good. I knew an individual, 
in the situation of a confidential clerk, who had a good 
intellect, with much Benevolence, Veneration, and Love of 
Approbation, but in whom a large organ of Secretiveness 
was combined with a great deficiency of Conscientiousness. 
His life had been respectable for many yea's, in the situa- 
tion of a clerk, while his duty was merely to write books 
tiousness. She was able to read and to write well, and had 
received in other respects an ordinary Scotch education ; but 
apparently no adequate moral training. Her immense Secre- 
tiveness, untrained to obey her higher powers, was the ruin of 
her mind. She habitually mystified, lied, and practised stra- 
tagems. She was an adept in complaisance and plausibilities, 
but, from long habits of deceit, she seemed incapable of relying 
on truth, even when it was her interest to do so. She became 
a confirmed drunkard, of a violent temper, and a thief. I have 
seen such a combination of the mental organs as this in per- 
sons in the middle ranks, whose conduct was respectable 
through life, and I can ascribe the difference only to the effects 
of training. If this individual had been early made acquainted 
with the nature and tendency of Secretiveness, Alimentiveness, 
Destructiveness, and Acquisitiveness, and had been trained to 
subject them to the guidance of the higher faculties, it is highly 
probable that she might have been saved from perdition. 1840 



244 PREVENTION OF CRIME. 

and conduct correspondence ; but when he was promoted, 
and intrusted with buying and selling, and paying and receiv- 
ing cash, his moral principles gave way : and the temptation 
to which he yielded was not a selfish one. He was much 
devoted to religion, and began by lending his master's money, 
for a few days, to his religious friends, who did not always 
pay him back ; he then proceeded to assist the poorer bre- 
thren with it ; he next opened his house in great hospitality 
to the members of the congregation to which he belonged. 
These expenses speedily placed his cash so extensively in 
arrear, that he had no hope of recovering the deficiency 
by any ordinary means, and he then purchased lottery tick- 
ets, to a large amount, trusting to a good prize for his resto- 
ration to honour and independence. These prizes never 
came, and the result was, disclosure, disgrace, and misery. 
Now, the way to prevent crime, in cases like this, is to 
avoid presenting temptation to men whose defective moral 
organs do not enable them to withstand it. Phrenology will 
certainly come to the assistance of society in this course 
of proceeding ; because it affords the means of determining 
beforehand whether any great moral deficiency exists ; and 
after the present generation shall have been laid in the grave, 
the next will not be ashamed to apply it in so beneficial a 
manner. It is known that, notwithstanding every effort on 
the part of the chief officers of the post-office in Britain 
to select honest individuals for that department, numerous 
depredations take place in it ; so that a day never closes, 
on which one or more capital felonies have not been com- 
mitted, in abstracting money from letters. I called the 
attention of Sir Edward Lees, the enlightened secretary of 
the Edinburgh post-office, to the aid which phrenology might 
afford toward the remedy of this evil, by enabling the go- 
vernment to select individuals in whom the moral and in- 
tellectual organs so decidedly predominate over those of the 
animal propensities, that they would be free from internal 
temptations to steal, and of course be more able to resist the 
external temptations presented by their opportunities to do 
so. He visited the museum of the Phrenological Society, 
where I showed him the skulls and busts of many executed 
criminals, from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and 
enabled him to compare them with the skulls and busts of 
virtuous men : he acknowledged that the difference was so 
palpable, that it was impossible to avoid the perception of it, 



PREVENTION OP CRIME. 245 

Ehd that he could not see any sufficient reason why phreno- 
logy, if borne out by large experience, should not be applied 
in this manner ; but added, truly, that, being only a subor- 
dinate functionary, he had no power to carry so great an 
innovation into practice.* 

The reason I introduce these facts is, to press on your 
attention the dereliction of social duty which the better 
constituted members of society continue' to commit, while 
they neglect to use the light which Providence is here pre- 
senting to their eyes. If government, or individuals, place 
men in whom the animal faculties predominate, or in whom 
the balance between them and the moral powers only hangs 
in equilibrium, in external circumstances in which temptations 
are presented to the inferior faculties stronger than they are 
able to resist, a great portion of the guilt of their offences 
lies with those who thus expose them to trial ; and although 
the criminal law does not recognise this as guilt, the natural 
law clearly does so, for it punishes the offenders. The loss, 
annoyance, and sometimes ruin, which ensue from these 
depredations, are the chastisements for having placed impro- 
per persons in situations for which they were not qualified. 
It may appear hard, that these punishments should have 
been inflicted for so many generations, while men did not 
possess any adequate means of discriminating natural dis- 
positions, so as to be able to avoid them. This difficulty 
presents itself in regard to all the natural laws ; and the 
only answer that can be offered is, that it has pleased Pro- 
vidence to constitute man a progressive being, and to subject 
him to a rigid discipline in his progress to knowledge. Our 
ancestors suffered and died under the ravages of small-pox, 
until they discovered vaccination ; and we still suffer under 
cholera, because we have not yet found out its causes and 
remedies. There are merchants who employ phrenology in 
the selection of clerks, warehousemen, and other individuals 
in whom confidence must be placed, and they have reaped 
the advantages of its lights. 

* If the post-office and other public authorities would order 
accurate casts to be made from the heads of all their servants 
who are convicted of embezzlement, and compare them with 
the heads of those who hold the highest character for tried 
integrity, they would see a difference that would force them 
to believe in the influence of organization on the mental 
dispositions. 

21* 



346 TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 

I may here remark, that the number of really inferior 
brains is not great ; and of all the countless thousands who 
are intrusted with property, and have the power of appro- 
priating or misapplying it, the number is comparatively small 
who actually do so. Still, those who do not know how to 
judge of dispositions from the brain, are left under an habitual 
uncertainty whether any particular individual, on whose 
fidelity their fortuhes depend, may be found, on some un- 
lucky day, to belong to the inferior order, when they had 
always regarded him as an example of the highest class. 

I repeat, then, that the first step toward preventing, and 
thereby diminishing, crimes, is to avoid placing men with 
inferior brains in external circumstances of temptation, which 
they are not calculated to resist. The second is, to give 
every possible vigour to the moral and intellectual faculties, 
by exercising and instructing them, so as to cast the balance 
of power and activity in their favour. And the third is, to 
improve, sedulously as possible, our social institutions, so as to 
encourage the activity of the higher powers, and diminish that 
of the inferior faculties, in all the members of society. 

The next question to be considered is, How ought men, 
having brains of this middle class, to be treated after they 
have yielded to temptation, infringed the law, and been con- 
victed of crime 1 The established method is, to confine 
them before trial in crowded prisons, in utter idleness, and 
in the society of criminals like themselves ; and after trial 
and condemnation, to continue them in the same society, 
with the addition of labour ; to transport them to New 
South Wales, or to hang them. In no aspect of European 
and Christian society are there more striking marks of a 
still lingering barbarism, than in this treatment of criminals. 
In almost no other institutions of society are there more 
glaring indications of an utter want of the philosophy of 
mind, than in the prisons of Britain.* But let us descend 
to particulars. 

We have seen that men of the middle class (and they 
are by far the most numerous of all the criminals) are led 

* The text was written in 1835-6, and an improvement has 
since taken place in the management cf British prisons. A 
prison act has been passed, appointing Boards for the direction 
of prisons in Scotland, and Mr. Frederick Hill, a gentleman 
distinguished for humanity and intelligence, has been named 
Inspector of them. 



TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 247 

into crime in consequence of the ascendency, for the time, 
of their animal propensities ; but that, nevertheless, they 
possess, to a considerable extent, also moral sentiments and 
intellect. In treating them as criminals, we may have vari- 
ous objects in view. First ; our object may be revenge, or 
the desire to inflict suffering on them because they have 
made society suffer. This is the feeling of savages, and 
of all rude and naturally cruel minds ; and if we avow this 
as our principle of action, and carry it consistently into effect, 
we should erect instruments of torture, and put our criminals 
to a cruel and lingering death. But the national mind is hu- 
manized far beyond the toleration of this practice. I humbly 
think, however, that as we profess to be so, we ought utterly 
and completely to discard the principle of vengeance from 
our treatment, as unchristian, unphilosophical, and inexpedi- 
ent, and not to allow it to mingle covertly, as I fear it still 
does, with our views of criminal legislation. 

Or, secondly, our object may be, by inflicting suffering on 
criminals, to deter other men from offending. This is the 
general and populay notion of the great end of punishment ; 
and when applied to men of the middle class of faculties, it 
is not without foundation. Individuals who are strongly 
solicited by their animal propensities, and have a very great 
deficiency of the moral and intellectual faculties — that is to 
say, criminals of the lowest grade of brain — are not alive 
even to the fear of suffering ; and the terror of punishment 
scarcely operates on them. You will find them committing 
capital felonies, while they are attending the execution of 
their previous associates for similar offences. It appears to 
me, that even the terror of punishment scarcely produces 
an appreciable effect on the conduct of this class of men ; 
and some persons, drawing their observations from this 
class alone, have concluded, as a general rule, that suffering 
inflicted on one offender does not deter any other individuals 
from committing crime. But I respectfully differ from this 
opinion. Wherever the organs of the moral and reflecting 
faculties possess considerable developement, example does 
produce some effect ; and the higher the moral and intel- 
lectual faculties rise in power, the more completely effica- 
cious does it become. What one of us would not feel it as 
an enormous evil, to be dragged to prison ; to be locked up, 
night and day, in the society of the basest of mankind ; to 
be publicly tried at the bar of a criminal court, and subse- 



248 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

quently transported as a felon to a distant colony 1 Mosi 
of us instinctively feel that death itself, in an honourable 
form, would be perfect bliss, compared with such a fate. 
If, therefore, any of us ever felt, for a moment, tempted to 
infringe the criminal law, unquestionably the contemplation 
of such appalling consequences of guilt would operate, to a 
considerable extent, in studying the steps of virtue. But 
the error is very great, of supposing that all men are 
constituted with such nice moral sensibilities as these. 
Superior minds feel in this manner, solely because their 
moral and intellectual organs are large ; and the same feel- 
ings do not operate, to the same extent, in the case of men 
possessing inferior brains. 

Laws have been enacted, in general, by men possessing 
the best class of brains, and they have erroneously imagined 
that mere punishment would have the same effect on all 
other individuals as it would have on themselves. While, 
therefore, I consider it certain, that the fear of punishment 
does operate beneficially on the waverers, I regard its 
influence as much more limited than is generally believed. 
In proportion to the talent of a man who has a tendency to 
commit crime, will be his power of anticipating the conse- 
quences of detection ; but in the same proportion will be 
his capacity of eluding them, by superior address in his 
criminal acts, and thus there is a counteracting influence 
even in the possession of intellect. The faculty chiefly 
addressed by the prospect of punishment is Fear, or Cau- 
tiousness ; and although, in some men, this is a powerful 
sentiment, yet, in many, the organ is deficient, and there is 
little consciousness of the feeling. 

On the whole, therefore, the conclusion at which I arrive 
on this point is, that the condition of convicted criminals 
should be such as should be felt to be a very serious 
abridgment of the enjoyments of moral and industrious men ; 
and this it must necessarily be, even under the most 
improved method of treating them ; but I do not consider it 
advisable that one pang of suffering should be added to their 
lot for the sake of deterring others, if that pang be not 
calculated to prove beneficial to themselves. 

Thirdly, our object in criminal legislation may be, at once 
to protect society by example, and to reform the offenders 
themselves. This appears to me to be the real and legi- 
timate object of the criminal law in a Christian coun- 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 249 

try, and the question arises, How may it best be accom- 
plished ] 

A condemned criminal is necessarily an individual who 
has been convicted of abusing his animal propensities, and 
thereby inflicting evil on society. He has proved, by his 
conduct, that his moral and intellectual powers do not pos- 
sess sufficient energy, in all circumstances, to restrain his 
propensities. Restraint, therefore, must be supplied by 
external means ; in other words, he must, both for his own 
sake and for that of society, be taken possession of, and 
prevented from doing mischief; he must be confined. 
Now, this first step of discipline itself affords a strong 
inducement to waverers to avoid crime, because, to the idle 
and dissolute, the lovers of ease and pleasure, confinement 
is a sore evil ; one which they dread more than a severe but 
shorter infliction of pain. This measure is recommended, 
therefore, by three important considerations — that it serves 
to protect society, to reform the criminal, and to deter other 
men from offending. 

The next question that occurs is, How should the cri- 
minal be treated under confinement 1 The moment we 
understand his mental constitution and condition, the an- 
swer becomes obvious. Our object is to abate the activity 
of his animal propensities, and to increase the activity and 
energy of his moral and intellectual faculties. The first 
step in allaying the activity of the propensities is, to with- 
draw every object and communication that tends to excite 
them. The most powerfully exciting causes to crime are 
idleness, intoxication, and the society of immoral associates. 
In our British jails criminals in general are utterly idle ; 
they are crowded together, and live habitually in the so- 
ciety of each other ; intoxication being the only stimulus 
that is withdrawn. If I wished to invent a school or col- 
lege for training men to become habitual criminals, I could 
not imagine an institution more perfect for the purpose than 
one of our jails. Men, and often boys, in whom the propensi- 
ties are naturally strong, are left in complete idleness, so that 
their strongest and lowest faculties may enjoy ample leisure 
to luxuriate ; and they are placed in each other's society, so 
that their polluted minds may more effectually avail them- 
selves of their leisure in communicating their experience to 
each other, and cultivating, by example and precept, the pro- 
pensities into increased energy and more extensive activity. 



250 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

The proper treatment would be to separate them, as much 
as possible, from each other ; and while they are in each 
other's society, to prevent them, by the most vigilant super- 
intendence, from communicating immoral ideas and impress 
sions to each other's minds. In the next place, they should 
be all regularly employed ; because nothing tends more 
directly to subdue the inordinate activity of the animal 
propensities than labour. It occupies the mind, and phy- 
siologically it drains off, by the muscles, from the brain, the 
nervous energy, which, in the case of the criminals, is 
expended by their large organs of the propensities. The 
greater the number of the higher faculties that the labour 
can be made to stimulate, the more beneficial it will be. 
Mounting the steps of a treadmill exercises merely the 
muscles, and acts on the mind by exhausting the nervous 
energy and producing the feeling of fatigue. It does not 
excite a single moral or intellectual faculty. Working as 
a weaver or shoemaker would employ more of the intellec- 
tual powers ; the occupations of a carpenter or black-smith 
are still more ingenious ; while that of a machine-maker 
stands higher still in the scale of mental requirement. 
Many criminals are so deficient in intellect, that they are 
not capable of engaging in ingenious employments ; hut my 
proposition is, that, wherever they do enjoy intellectual 
talent, the more effectually it is drawn out, cultivated, and 
applied to useful purposes, the more will their powers of 
self-guidance and control be increased. 

Supposing the quiescence of the animal propensities to be 
secured by restraint and by labour, the next object obviously 
is, to impart vigour to their moral and intellectual faculties, 
so that they may be rendered capable of mingling with 
society at a future period, without relapsing into crime. The 
moral and intellectual faculties can be cultivated only by 
addressing to them their natural objects, and exercising 
them in their legitimate fields. If any relative of ours 
possessed an average developement of the bones and mus- 
cles of the legs, yet had, through sheer indolence, lost the 
use of them and become incapable of walking, should we act 
wisely, with a view to his recovery, in fixing him into an 
arm-chair, from which it was impossible for him to rise 1 
Yet, when we lock up criminals in prison, amid beings 
who never give expression to a moral emotion without its 
becoming a subject of ridicule ; when we exclude from then? 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 251 

Society all moral and intelligent men calculated to rouse 
and exercise their higher faculties ; and when we provide 
no efficient means for their instruction ; do we not in fact 
as effectually deprive all their superior powers of the means 
of exercise and improvement, as we would do the patient 
with feeble legs, by pinioning him down into a chair 1 All 
this must be reversed. Effectual means must be provided 
for instructing criminals in duty and knowledge, and for 
exercising their moral and intellectual faculties. This can 
be done only by greatly increasing the numbers of higher 
minds that hold communion with them, and by encouraging 
them to read and to exercise all their best powers in every 
practicable manner. The influence of visiters in jails, in 
meliorating the character of criminals, is explicable on such 
grounds. The individuals who undertake this duty are, in 
general, prompted to it by the vivacity of their own moral 
feelings ; and the manifestation of these toward the crimi- 
nals excites the corresponding faculties in them into action. 
On the same principle, on which the presence of profligate 
associates cultivates and strengthens the propensities, does 
the society of virtuous men excite and strengthen the 
moral powers. 

By this treatment the offender would be restored to so- 
ciety with his inferior feelings tamed, his higher powers 
invigorated, his understanding enlightened, and his whole 
mind and body trained to industrious habits. If this would 
not afford society a more effectual protection against his 
future crimes, and be more in consonance with the dictates 
ef Christianity than our present treatment, I stand con- 
demned as a vain theorist ; but if it would have these 
blessed effects, I humbly entreat of you to assist me in 
subduing that spirit of ignorance and dogmatism which 
represents these views as dangerous to religion and inju- 
rious to society^ and presents every obstacle to their prac- 
tical adoption.* 

* The prisons in the United States of America are con- 
ducted in a manner greatly superior to those of Great Britain 
and Ireland ; but even they admit of improvement. I shall add 
some remarks on them to the next lecture. 

During my residence in the United States, from 1838 to 
1840, an extraordinary number of instances of frauds, com- 
mitted by men holding high official situations, were announced 
in the public prints, and a vast extent of individual suffering 



252 



LECTURE XIV. 

DUTY OF SOCIETY IN REGARD TO THE TREATMENT OT 

CRIMINALS. 

The punishment of criminals proceeds too much on the prin- 
ciple of revenge — Consequences of this error — The proper 
objects are the protection of society, and the reformation of 
the criminal — Means of accomplishing these ends — Confine- 
ment in a penitentiary till the offender is rendered capable 
of good conduct — Experience of the corrupting effects of 
short periods of imprisonment in Glasgow bridewell — 
Proposed conditions of liberation — Failure of the treadmill 
— American penitentaries — Wherein imperfect — Punish- 
ment of death may ultimately be abolished — Harmony of the 
proposed system of criminal legislation with Christianity — 
Execution of criminals — Transportation — Farther particu- 
lars respecting American prisons — Cerebral and mental 
qualities of criminals there confined- Some of them incor- 
rigible — Objection as to destruction of human responsibility 
answered — Class of criminals susceptible of reformation — 
Means of effecting this — Results of solitary confinement 
considered — Silent labour system at Auburn. 

I proceed to consider the duty of the highest class of 
minds — or that comprising individuals in whom the moral 
and intellectual organs decidedly predominate over those of 
the inferior propensities — in regard to criminal legislation 
and prison-discipline. This class has received from Provi- 
dence ample moral and intellectual powers, with as much 
of the lower elements of our nature as are necessary for 
their well-being in their present sphere of existence, but not 
"so much as to hurry them into crime. Such individuals, 
therefore, have a great deal of power committed to them by 
the Creator, and we may be permitted to presume that he 
will hold them responsible for the use which they make of 
it. I regret to observe, that, through lack of knowledge, 
this class has hitherto fallen far short of their duty in the 
treatment of criminals. In my last lecture I remarked, 
that, as revenge is disavowed by Christianity, and con- 
demned also by the moral law of nature, we should exclude 

was the consequence. Such occurrences reflect disgrace on 
the society under whose institutions they so extensively pre- 
vail. The remarks on p. 260 are still more applicable to the 
United States than even to Britain. 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 253 

h entirely, as a principle, in our treatment of criminals ; but 
that, nevertheless, it may be detected mingling, more or less, 
with many of our criminal regulations. I proceed to illus- 
trate this position, and to point out the baneful consequences 
which ensue. 

In committing men to prisons in which they shall be 
doomed to idleness — in compelling them to associate, night 
and day. with each other (which is the most effectual method 
of eradicating any portion of moral feeling left unimpaired 
in their minds) — and in omitting to provide instruction for 
them — society seems, without intending it, to proceed almost 
exclusively on the principle of revenge. Such treatment 
may be painful, but it is clearly not beneficial to the crimi- 
nals ; and yet pain, deliberately inflicted, without benefit to 
the sufferer, is simply vengeance. Perhaps it may be thought 
that this treatment will serve to render imprisonment more 
terrible, and thereby increase its efficacy as a means of 
deterring other men from offending. No doubt it will ren- 
der it very terrible to virtuous men — to individuals of the 
highest class of natural dispositions — because nothing could 
be more horrible to them than to be confined in idleness, 
amid vicious, debased, and profligate associates ; but this is 
not the class on whom prisons are intended to operate as 
objects of terror : these men have few temptations to be- 
come criminals. Those to whom prisons should be rendered 
formidable, are the lovers of pleasure, men enamoured of 
an easy dissolute life enlivened with animal excitement, not 
oppressed with labour, and not saddened by care, reflection, 
or moral restraint. Now, our prisons, as at present con- 
ducted, are not formidable to such characters. They pro- 
mise them idleness, the absence of care, and the stimulus of 
profligate society. On this class of minds, therefore, they 
lose, in a great degree, the character of objects of terror and 
aversion ; undeniably they are not schools of reform ; and 
they therefore have no recognisable feature so strongly 
marked on them as that of instruments of vengeance, or 
means employed by the higher minds for inflicting on their 
inferior brethren what, judging from their own feelings, they 
intend to be a terrible retribution, but which these lower 
characters, from the difference of their feelings, find to be 
no formidable punishment at all. Thus, through sheer 
ignorance of human nature, the one class goes on indulging 
its revenge, in the vain belief that it is deterring offenders ; 
22 



254 TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 

while the other class proceeds in its career of crime, in 
nearly utter disregard of the measures adopted to deter it 
from iniquity ; and at this day, our whole measures are as 
far from being crowned with success as they were a century 
ago. 

If any class deserve punishment for these proceedings, I 
would be disposed to inflict it on the higher class, or on the 
men to whom a bountiful Creator has given judgment to 
understand, and moral sentiments to feel, the obligations of 
duty, and thereby ample ability to reclaim from vice and 
crime their less fortunate brethren, but who, through igno- 
rance, and the helplessness that accompanies it, leave this 
great duty undischarged. In point of fact, the natural law 
does punish them, and will continue to punish them until 
they discharge their duty as rational men and Christians. If 
we reckon up the cost, in the destruction of life and pro- 
perty, expenses of maintaining criminal officers, courts of 
justice, and executioners — and the pangs of sorrow, flowing 
not only from pecuniary loss, but from disgrace sustained by 
the relatives of profligate offenders — we may regard the 
sum-total as the penalty which the virtuous pay for their 
blind neglect of the rational principles of criminal legislation. 
If the sums thus expended were collected, and applied, 
under the guidance of enlightened judgment, to the con" 
struction and proper appointment of penitentiaries, one or 
more for each large district of the country, and if offenders 
were committed to them for reformation, it is probable that 
the total loss to society would not be greater than that of 
the present system, while the advantages would unspeaka- 
bly exceed those which now exist. 

In regard to the treatment of criminals when placed in 
such penitentiaries, I have already remarked, that, in the 
sentences pronounced under the present system, the prin- 
ciple chiefly, although unintentionally, acted on by the supe- 
rior class of society appears to be revenge. If a boy rob a 
till of a few pence, he is sentenced to eight day s r imprison- 
ment in jail ; that is, to eight days' idleness, passed in the 
society of accomplished thieves and profligate blackguards, 
at the end of which space he is liberated. Here the quantity 
of punishment measured out almost seems to be regulated 
by the principle, that the eight days' confinement causes a 
quantity of suffering equal to a fair vengeance for robbing the 
till. If a female steal clothes from a hedge, she is sentenced 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 255 

to sixty days' confinement in bridewell, where she is forced 
to work, in the society of ten or a dozen profligates like her- 
self, during the day, and is locked up alone during the night. 
At the end of the sixty days she is liberated, and turned 
adrift on society. If a man commit a more extensive 
theft, he is committed to bridewell for three months, or 
perhaps transported ; the term of confinement and. the 
period of transportation bearing a uniform and, as far as pos- 
sible, a supposed just relation to the magnitude of the 
offence. The intention of this treatment is to cause a 
quantum of suffering sufficient to deter the criminal from 
repeatnig the offence, and others from committing similiar 
transgressions ; but we shall inquire whether these effects 
follow. 

If we renounce, altogether, the principle of vengeance as 
unchristian, we shall still have other two principles remain- 
ing as guides to our steps : first, that of protecting society ; 
and, secondly, that of reforming the offender. 

The principle of protecting society authorizes us to do 
everything that is necessary to accomplish this end, under the 
single qualification that we shall adopt that method which is 
most beneficial for society, and least injurious to the crimi- 
nal. If, as I have contended, the world be really constituted 
on the principle of the supremacy of the moral sentiments, 
we shall find, that whatever measures serve best to protect 
society, will also be most beneficial for the offender, and vice 
versa. In the view, then, of protecting society, any indi- 
vidual who has been convicted of infringing the criminal law, 
should be handed over as a moral patient to the managers of 
a well-regulated penitentiary, to be confined in it, not until 
he shall have endured a certain quantity of suffering, equal 
in magnitude to what is supposed to be a fair revenge for 
his offence, but until such a change shall have been effected 
in his mental condition, as may afford society a reasonable 
guaranty that he will not commit fresh crimes when he is 
set at large. It is obvious that this course of procedure 
would be humanity itself to the offender, compared with the 
present system, while it would unspeakably benefit society-. 
It would convert our prisons from houses of vengeance and 
of corruption into schools of reform. It would require how- 
ever, an entire change in the principles on which they are 
conducted. 

The views which I have expounded in this and the pre- 



256 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 



ceding lecture are strongly elucidated and confirmed by a 
report of the state of the Glasgow bridewell in 1826, which 
I obtained from Mr. Brebner, the very enlightened and truly 
humane superintendent of that establishment : 

State of Crimes and Offences. 



I Year ending 
31st Dec. 1825. 


Year ending 
31st Dec. 1826. 


Commitments during the ) 
year, 5 

Deduct recommitments of) 
same individuals in the > 
currency of the year, - ) 

Remains nett number of dif- ) 
ferent persons, - - - ) 

Whereof in custody for the > 
first time, - - - - ) 

Old offenders, 


03 

O 

558 
101 

457 

360 
97 


09 

e 
fa 

703 

279 

424 

209 
215 


O 

E- 

1261 
380 

881 

569 
312 


w 
<o 
13 
fjS 

688 

124 

564 

444 
120 


03 

13 
£ 

fa 

713 

281 

432 

189 
243 


H 

o 
H 

1401 

405 

996 

633 
363 



Mr. Brebner has observed that offenders committed for 
the first time, for only a short period, almost invariably re- 
turn to bridewell for new offences ; but if committed for a 
long period, they return less frequently. This fact is esta- 
blished by the following table, framed on an average of ten 
years, ending 25th December, 1825. 

Of prisoners sentenced for the first time to fourteen days' 
confinement, there returned under sentence for new crimes 



about 



30 days' confinement, about 



40 do 


do 


do 


60 do 


do 


do 


3 months' 


do 


do 


6 do 


do 


do 


9 do 


do 


do 


12 do 


do 


do 


18 do 


do 


do 


24 do 


do 


do 



75 per 


cent. 


60 


do 


50 


do 


40 


do 


25 


do 


10 


do 


7| 


do 


4 


do 


1 


do 


none. 





TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 257 

During the ten years, ninety- three persons were committed 
for the first time for two years, of whom not one returned. 

Mr. Brebner remarked, that when prisoners come back to 
bridewell two or three times, they go on returning at inter- 
vals for years. He has observed that a good many prisoners 
committed for short periods for first offences, are afterward 
tried before the High Court of Justiciary, and transported 
or hanged. 

Judging from the ultimate effect, we here discover that 
the individuals who for some petty offence are committed 
to bridewell for the first time, for only fourteen days, are in 
reality more severely punished than those who, for some 
more grave infringement of the law, are sentenced at first 
to two years' imprisonment ; nay, the ultimate result to the 
petty delinquent would have been far more beneficial if, for 
his trifling offence, he had been sentenced to two years' 
confinement instead of fourteen days. The sentence of 
fourteen days' imprisonment merely destroyed his moral 
sensibilities, (if he had any,) initiated him in the knowledge 
of the mysteries of a prison, introduced him to accomplished 
thieves, and enabled him to profit by their instruction ; and, 
when thus deteriorated, and also deprived of all remnants 
of character, it turned him loose again into the world, un- 
protected and unprovided for, leaving him to commit new 
crimes and to undergo new punishments, (which we see by 
the table he rarely failed to do,Vuntil, by gradual corruption, 
he was ultimately prepared for transportation or the gallows. 
Of the delinquents sentenced to only fourteen days' con- 
finement for their first offence, seventy-five per cent., or 
three-fourths of the whole, returned for new crimes. On 
the other hand, the training, discipline, and meliorating 
effect of a confinement for two years, for the first offence, 
seems to have been so efficacious, that not one individual 
who had been subjected to it, returned again to the same 
prison as a. criminal* This proves that, looking to the 
ultimate welfare of the individuals themselves, as well as to 
the interests of society, there is far greater humanity in a 
sentence for a first offence, that shall reform the culprit, 

* Mr. Brebner mentioned that he did not believe that all of 
these individuals were completely reclaimed ; but that they 
•had received such impressions of Glasgow prison-discipline, 
that, if disposed to return to crime, they sought out a new field 
of action. 

32* 



258 TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 

although the offence itself may be small and the confinement 
long, than in one decreeing punishment for a few days only, 
proportional solely to the amount of the crime. 

If the humane principles which I now advocate shall ever 
be adopted, (and I feel confident that they will,) the sentence 
of the criminal judge, on conviction of a crime, would simply 
be one finding that the individual had committed a certain 
offence, and was not fit to live at large in society ; and 
therefore granting warrant for his transmission to a peni- 
tentiary, to be there confined, instructed, and employed, until 
liberated in due course of law. The process of liberation 
would then become the one of the greatest importance. 
There should be official inspectors of penitentiaries, invested 
with some of the powers of a court, sitting at regular inter- 
vals, and proceeding according to fixed rules. They should 
be authorized to receive applications for liberation at all 
their sessions, and to grant the prayer of them, on being 
satisfied that such a thorough change had been effected in 
the mental condition of the prisoner, that he might safely 
be permitted to resume his place in society. Until this 
conviction was produced, upon examination of his disposi- 
tions, of his attainments in knowledge, of his acquired skill 
in some useful employment, of his habits of industry, and, 
in short, of his general qualifications to provide for his own 
support, to restrain his animal propensities from committing 
abuses, and to act the part of a useful citizen, he should be 
retained as an inmate of the prison. Perhaps some indi- 
viduals, whose dispositions appeared favourable to reforma- 
tion, might be liberated at an earlier period, on sufficient 
security, under bond, given by responsible relatives or friends, 
for the discharge of the same duties toward them in private, 
which the officers of the penitentiary would discharge in 
public. For example, if a youth were to commit such an 
offence as would subject him, according to the present 
system of criminal legislation, to two or three months' 
confinement in bridewell, he might be handed over to 
individuals of undoubtedly good character and substance, 
under a bond that they should be answerable for his proper 
education, employment, and reformation ; and fulfilment of 
this obligation should be very rigidly enforced. The prin- 
ciple of revenge being disavowed and abandoned, there 
could be no harm in following any mode of treatment, 
whether private or public, that should be adequate to the 



TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 259 

accomplishment of the other two objects of criminal legis- 
lation — the protection of society and the reformation of the 
offender. To prevent abuses of this practice, the public 
authorities should carefully ascertain that the natural quali- 
ties of the offender admitted of adequate improvement by 
private treatment ; and secondly, that private discipline was 
actually administered. If any offender liberated on bond 
should ever reappear as a criminal, the penalty should be 
inexorably enforced, and the culprit should never again be 
liberated, except upon a verdict rinding that his reformation 
had been completed by a proper term of training in a 
penitentiary. 

If such a system were adopted, it would be of the utmost 
importance to have a sound and serviceable philosophy of 
mind, to guide the footsteps of judges, managers, inspectors, 
liberating officers, and criminals themselves ; because, with- 
out such a philosophy, the treatment would be empirical, 
the results unsatisfactory, and the public disappointment 
great. Phrenology appears to me to be such a philosophy, 
and, when judiciously applied, I have every expectation that 
it will be found adequate to the object. 

If, keeping the principles which I have explained in view, 
you read attentively the various systems of prison-discipline 
which have been tried, you will discover in all of them some 
glaring defect in one essential particular or another, and 
perceive that their success has been great or small in pro- 
portion as they have approached to, or receded from, these 
principles. A few years ago, there was a rage for treadmills 
in prisons ; these were expected to accomplish great effects. 
The phrenologist laughed at the idea and predicted its 
failure, for the simplest reasons : Crime proceeds from 
over-active propensities and under- active moral sentiments ; 
and all that the treadmill could boast of accomplishing, was, 
to fatigue the muscles of the body, leaving the propensities 
and moral sentiments exactly in the same condition, after 
the fatigue was removed by rest, as that in which they had 
been before it was inflicted. The advocates of the tread- 
mill proceeded on the theory, that the irksomeness of the 
labour would terrify the offenders so much, that, if they had 
once undergone it, they would refrain from crime during 
their whole lives, to avoid encountering it again. This 
notion, however, was without sufficient foundation. The 
labour, although painful at the time, did not, in the least, 



260 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

remove the causes of crime ; and after the pain had ceased, 
these continued to operate, offences were repeated, and 
treadmills have now fallen considerably into disrepute. 

In America various improved systems of prison-discipline 
have been practised. " In the prisons of Auburn and Sing- 
Sing, in the state of New York, and at Weathersfield, in 
the state of Connecticut, the system which has been adopted 
is that combining solitary confinement at night, hard labour 
by day, the strict observance of silence, and attention to 
moral and religious improvement. At sunrise the convicts 
proceed in regular order to the several work-shops, where 
they remain under vigilant superintendence until the hour 
of breakfast, when they repair to the common hall. When 
at their meals, the prisoners are seated at tables in single 
rows, with their backs toward the centre, so that there can 
be no interchange of signs. From one end of the work-rooms 
to the other, upward of five hundred convicts may be seen 
without a single individual being observed to turn his head 
toward a visiter. Not a whisper is heard throughout the 
apartments. At the close of day labour is suspended, and 
the prisoners return in military order to their solitary cells ; 
there they have the opportunity of reading the scriptures, 
and of reflecting in silence on their past lives. The chap- 
lain occasionally visits the cells, instructing the ignorant, 
and administering the reproofs and consolations of religion. 
The influence of these visits is described to be most bene- 
ficial ; and the effect of the entire discipline is decidedly 
successful in the prevention of crime, both by the dread 
which the imprisonment inspires, and by the reformation of 
the offender. Inquiries have been instituted, relative to 
the conduct of prisoners released from Auburn penitentiary 
— the prison in which this system has been longest observed 
— and of two hundred and six discharged, who have been 
watched over for the space of three years, one hundred and 
forty-six have been reclaimed, and maintained reputable 
characters in society."* 

This is obviously a great improvement on British prisons, 
but still it is not perfect. Too little is done with the view 
of calling forth the moral and intellectual faculties of the 
prisoners, and the terror of punishment seems to be too much 
relied on. It appears that of the two hundred and six here 
anentioned as discharged, sixty have resumed criminal habits. 
* Simpson on Popular Education, p. 274. First Edition. 



TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 261 

It would be interesting to know how many of these indivi- 
duals possessed brains of the lowest class, or were so deficient 
in the moral and intellectual organs as scarcely to be 
reclaimable by any treatment ; and how many had brains 
of the middle class. Without knowing this, it is impossible 
to judge to what extent the treatment is really effectual in 
reforming all who are capable of reformation. 

It follows from these principles, that the punishment of 
death may be ultimately abolished. The committee of the 
the Prison-Discipline Society of London, in their eighth 
Report, " Declare their conviction that an effectual substi- 
tute may be found for the penalty of death in a well regulated 
system of penitentiary discipline ; a system which shall 
inspire dread, not by intensity of punishment, but by unre- 
mitted occupation, seclusion, and restraint. The enforce- 
ment of hard labour, strict silence, and a judicious plan of 
solitary confinement, will be found the most powerful of all 
moral instruments for the correction of the guilty ; and when 
to these is added the application of religious instruction, the 
utmost means are exercised which society can employ for 
the punishment and reformation of human character." 

In the British and Foreign Quarterly Review for Febru- 
ary, 1836, there is an article entitled " Moral Statistics," 
which affords much curious information as to the manage- 
ment of prisons in France, and the character of the prisoners. 
The prisoners are remarkable for an indifference about 
human life. They fear neither to give nor to receive death. 
A prisoner, when the judge was summing up the evidence 
against him, exclaimed, " Get on, Mr. President ; you tire 
me. Everything that you say is true. I killed the man ; 
put me to death ; but do not fatigue me with so many 
words !" The London Courier of 2d February, 1836, re- 
marks — " Whatever may be its cause, there can be no doubt 
that the population, at least of Paris, are careless of the 
lives of others, and of their own. On such a population, 
inflicting the punishment of death can only serve, by its 
example, to nourish the regardlessness of life. Over their 
minds it can have no salutary influence ; and as long as its 
beneficial effects are doubtful, it is only prudent to take 
the safe side, and cease to inflict it. The government has 
humanely taken that course ; at least, it has left in the 
hands of the jury to decide, if there are extenuating circum- 
stances attending even the crime of murder ; and the con* 



262 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

sequence is, that the number of executions is rapidly de- 
creasing. By such a step it has, we hope, gone in advance 
of the age ; and we should anticipate that its own avowed 
care and tenderness of the lives, even of criminals, will have 
the salutary effect of begetting a tenderness for life, and a 
greater desire to preserve it, than now prevail in the mass 
of the population of France." 

It is gratifying to know that the same humane principles 
are prevailing with our own government, and that capital 
punishment is less and less resorted to, with much benefit 
to society. Whenever the principles which I am now ad- 
vocating come to be practically adopted, capital punishment 
will be unnecessary. I state from a pretty extensive observa- 
tion, that it is only the lowest class of minds that are prone 
to commit desperately wicked and outrageous crimes, and 
they very rarely arrive at them as their first step in turpitude. 
They fall into the hands of justice first for minor offences ; 
and if they were then treated according to their nature and 
mental condition, they would not have opportunities after- 
ward of committing atrocious actions. If the brains of any 
of them be so very deficient in the moral and intellectual 
organs, that thorough reformation is hopeless, they should be 
detained as moral patients for life. If they be capable of 
amendment, they should be set at liberty only after reason- 
able security has been obtained for subsequent good conduct, 
by subjecting them to salutary discipline and instruction. 

In leaving the subject, I solicit your attention for a mo- 
ment to the harmony between this whole system of criminal 
legislation and the precepts of Christianity. We are told 
to love our neighbour as ourselves : now, if we were con- 
scious of immoral dispositions, which threatened to bring us 
into misery through crime, in our cool moments of reflection 
we should bless the hand that would arrest and reclaim us 
as here recommended. Again, we are commanded to for- 
give injuries ; to return good for evil ; and to love even our 
enemies. In this whole scheme there is not a particle of 
resentment or revenge ; there is no retribution for the injuries 
committed, but good is returned for evil ; that is to say, 
measures of moral reformation are put in practice toward 
the offender as the return for the injury he has done to 
society. Suffering to him will attend the use of these means, 
but it is not inflicted by society designedly as punishment ; 
it is the chastisement appointed by the Creator under the 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 263 

natural laws ; it is the pain which the wicked feel in being 
stripped of their vices ; but it is doubly compensated by the 
pure enjoyment which ultimately accompanies a reformed 
mind. Finally — If criminals be the great enemies of their 
own welfare, is there a more effectual method of loving them, 
than by reforming them, and restoring them to the dignity 
and happiness of virtue 1 

I believe that the great obstacle to improvement has been 
the want of knowledge, and not the want of will. The 
character of criminals appeared to be an inexplicable enigma, 
and the wisest of men did not know how to deal with them. 
They tried, perhaps, a particular method of treatment, 
and it succeeded with some, had no effect on others, and 
rendered a third class worse ; and it was then abandoned ; 
another plan was followed, and with similar results. Among 
other experiments, the effect of extensive executions was 
tried. Within my recollection the favourite maxim was, 
that, to prevent crime, it was necessary to render the law 
terrible, and punishment certain ; and, under this notion, 
almost every man convicted of theft, robbery, forgery, or 
murder, was hanged. In London ten and a dozen human 
beings were frequently executed at once, and this was repeat- 
ed several times a year. In Edinburgh the execution of 
two or three individuals at a time was not uncommon, and 
the executions recurred to a greater or less extent every few 
months. This practice was found not to be successful ; 
and transportation to New South Wales was then more 
extensively resorted to. 

This mode of punishment does not imbody one element 
of reason in its conception from beginning to end. The 
convicts are confined in the society of each other before 
transportation ; they are sent on a long voyage utterly idle, 
and also in each other's society ; and when they are landed, 
they are delivered over, without any moral or intellectual 
instruction, to the free settlers in that colony, as bonded 
servants. Their nature not being changed, many of them 
rob and murder their masters whenever opportunities occur. 
This has been discovered to be an unsuccessful method of 
repressing crime, and many voices have already been raised 
against it. It is injurious to the moral, although many per- 
sons think it beneficial to the pecuniary, interests of the 
colony, by providing labour. As the qualities of the brain, 
like the features and expression of the face, descend to the 



264 TREATMENT OP CRtMlNALS. 

children of the convicts, their immoral dispositions are there- 
by ingrafted into the constitution of the future population ; 
and deliberate preparation is made for calling into existence 
a long succession of individuals afflicted with unfavourably 
constituted brains and immoral dispositions. Lord Bacon, 
even in his day, denounced the practice of transporting 
criminals to colonies as extremely immoral and injurious, 
on this very account. Lately, much attention has been paid 
to penitentiaries, and government has sent commissioners 
to the United States of America, to study and report on the 
management of the most successful prisons in that country, 
with a view to improve our own. I do not expect that 
either the Americans or our lawgivers will succeed until 
they avail themselves of the lights afforded by the physiology 
of the brain. The same modes of treatment will not suit 
men whose brains and dispositions are very differently con- 
stituted ; and until legislators shall condescend to take the 
brain as an index to natural dispositions, they will never 
know, with reasonable certainty, to what individuals to apply 
one kind of treatment, and to whom to administer another ; 
yet, until they shall know how to do this, and how to adapt 
their discipline to the natures of the different men with whom 
they are dealing, success will be impossible. The great 
importance of this subject I trust will plead my apology for 
detaining you so long with the consideration of it. If you 
see truth in any of the views which I have expounded, I 
again respectfully, but earnestly, solicit you to support and 
to diffuse a knowledge of them in your respective circles 
in society, because it is only by the exertions of many that 
prejudice can be overcome, and truth be rendered ultimately 
triumphant. 

Postscrivt to the preceding Lecture. — Since the preceding 
lecture was delivered in Edinburgh, I have personally visited 
the state-prisons at Boston ; at Blackwell's Island and 
Auburn, in the state of New York ; the Eastern penitentiary 
and the Moyamensing prison, of Philadelphia ; and the 
state-prison at Weathersfield, Connecticut. I cheerfully 
testify to their gre»at superiority over the vast majority of 
British prisons, but I am still humbly of opinion that the 
discipline even in them proceeds on an imperfect knowledge 
of the nature of the individuals who are confined and pu- 
nished in them. 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 265 

There is a wide difference between the natural mental ■ 
constitution of most criminals and that of men virtuously- 
disposed. I have accompanied several American citizens, 
of great intelligence and high social consideration, to these 
prisons, and enabled them to observe that the inmates of 
them, generally, are deficient in the organs of the moral 
sentiments, and largely endowed with the organs of the 
animal propensities ; and that from this combination they 
are naturally predisposed to crime. The intellectual organs 
are possessed by them in various degrees ; but extensive 
observation has convinced me that the intellectual powers 
are not sufficient to guide strong animal propensities to 
virtue, unless they be aided by vigorous moral sentiments. 

The criminal law does not inquire into the causes which 
give rise to crime. The trial ascertains merely the fact 
that a crime has been committed, and the sentence is simply 
the announcement of a certain extent of punishment which 
must be suffered by the offender. No inquiry is made into 
the effect of the punishment on the peculiar mental constitu- 
tion of the individual. Until legislators shall proceed on a 
sound knowledge of both the causes of crime and the effect 
of punishment, they will err, and prove unsuccessful. In 
reference to prison-discipline in the United States, I shall 
notice two classes of persons, which comprise nearly the 
whole of the inmates of the prisons. 

The first class is composed of those in whom the animal 
organs are large, and those of the moral sentiments and 
intellectual powers are deficient. I regard the individuals 
of this class as moral patients, incapable of conducting 
themselves virtuously when left to the impulses of their own 
faculties, amid the ordinary temptations of society. I have 
put the question solemnly to the keepers of prisons, whether 
they believed in the possibility of reforming all offenders ; 
and from those whose minds were most humane and pene- 
trating, I have received the answer that they did not, and 
that experience had convinced them that some criminals are 
incorrigible by any human means hitherto discovered. These 
incorrigibles, when pointed out to me, were always found to 
have the defective organization now described. Their 
number is not large ; they are morally idiotic ; and justice, 
as well as humanity, dictates that they should be treated as 
moral patients. They labour under great natural mental 
defects, and it is no more either just or beneficial to society, 
23 



266 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

to punish them for actions proceeding from these natural 
defects, than it would be to punish men for having crooked 
spines or club feet. It is true that their actions are injuri- 
ous to society ; but they cannot help their actions ; and, 
therefore, while society has an undoubted right to restrain 
them during life, as incorrigible beings disposed continually 
to evil, it is bound to treat them with humanity ; that is to 
say, to give them employment, food, clothing, and comforta- 
ble lodging, with as much liberty as they can enjoy without 
abusing it, and no more. 

The American criminal law does not recognise the exis- 
tence of this class of men, and makes no provision for their 
custody for life. The humane and enlightened superinten- 
dents of prisons, both in Britain and in the United States, 
have expressed to me regret that no such provision exists. 

Religious persons, as noticed in one of the previous lec- 
tures, object to this view, on the ground that it destroys 
human responsibility. I respectfully remind them, that they 
admit the non-responsibility of idiots in intellect, and of 
madmen, although mischievous ; and treat both, when they 
infringe the criminal law, as patients, and not as culprits. 
I merely extend this class of cases a little farther ; and the 
maxim is certainly just, that major out minus non variat 
speciem. If these objectors will inquire into facts, they will 
find irresistible evidence of the truth of what I advance 
regarding the mental condition of these persons. I repeat 
that their number is not large : and maintain that, if we 
act consistently, we must either include them among the 
insane, or include the vicious insane among criminals. 

I have asked these objectors if they would receive into 
their families, as domestic servants, or into their employment 
in stores, convicts who had served out their time in state- 
prisons, supposing them qualified by knowledge for the duties 
of these stations ; and most of them have answered that 
they would not. On being asked why they would decline, 
they have generally replied that they had not sufficient con- 
fidence in their reformation. There is great inconsistency 
in such conduct. If they believe that every individual has 
power to reform himself, and that the prison is wisely framed 
to effect this reform, it is cruel to assume that the individual 
in question is not reformed, and to exclude higa from social 
comfort and honour on this assumption. The truth is, they 
act on the principle that some criminals are incorrigible, and 



TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 267 

that this may be one of the number : and therefore decline 
placing trust in any. Yet they blame us for teaching the 
same doctrine, and founding on it a better practice. 

The next class of criminals consists of those individuals 
in whom the animal organs are large, but in whom the moral 
and intellectual organs also are tolerably well developed. 
In favourable circumstances, they are capable of being re- 
strained from crime ; for moral and intellectual influences 
operate on them successfully. 

The treatment of this class will be proper, in the exact de- 
gree in which it improves and strengthens the moral and intel- 
lectual powers, and weakens the animal feelings. 

In order to weaken the animal propensities, it is necessary 
to withdraw from them every exciting influence. The dis- 
cipline of the American state-prisons, in which intoxicating 
liquors are completely excluded, in which the convicts are 
prevented from conversing with each other, in which each one 
sleeps in a separate cell, and in which regular habits and hard 
labour are enforced, appears to me to be well calculated to 
accomplish this end. 

But this is only the first step in the process which must be 
completed, before the convict can be restored to society, with 
the prospect of living in it as a virtuous man. The second 
is, to invigorate and enlighten the moral and intellectual 
powers to such an extent, that he, when liberated, shall be 
able to restrain his own propensities, amid the usual temp- 
tations presented by the social condition. 

There is only one way of strengthening faculties, and that 
is by exercising them ; and all the American prisons which 
I have seen are lamentably deficient in arrangements for 
exercising the moral and intellectual faculties of their in- 
mates. During the hours of labour, no advance can be made, 
beyond learning a trade. This is a valuable addition to a 
convict's means of reformation ; but it is not all-sufficient. 
After the hours of labour, he is locked up in solitude ; and 
I doubt much if he can read, for want of light ; but assum- 
ing that he can — reading is a very imperfect means of 
strengthening the moral powers. They must be exercised, 
trained, and habituated to action. My humble opinion is, 
that iq prisons there should be a teacher, of high moral and 
intellectual power, for every eight or ten convicts ; that, after 
the close of labour, these instructors should commence a 
system of vigorous culture of the superior faculties of th© 



ZB8 TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

prisoners, excite their moral and religious feelings, and in- 
struct their understandings. In proportion as the prisoner- 
give proofs of moral and intellectual advancement, they 
should be indulged with the liberty of social converse and 
action, for a certain time on each week-day, and on Sundays, 
in presence of the teachers ; and in these converzationes, or 
evening parties, they should be trained to the use of their 
higher powers, and habituated to restrain their propensities. 
Every indication of over-active propensity should be visited 
by a restriction of liberty and enjoyment ; while these ad- 
vantages, and also respectful treatment and moral considera- 
tion, should be increased in exact proportion to the advance- 
ment of the convicts in morality and understanding. By 
such means, if by any, the convicts would be prepared to 
enter society with their higher faculties so trained and in- 
vigorated, as to give them a chance of resisting temptation, 
and continuing in the paths of virtue. 

In no country has the idea yet been carried into effect, 
that in order to produce moral fruits, it is necessary to put 
into action moral influences, great and powerful in proportion 
to the barrenness of the soil from which they are expected 
to spring. 

A difference of opinion exists among intelligent persons, 
whether the system of solitary confinement and solitary la- 
bour, pursued in the Eastern penitentiary of Pennsylvania, 
or the system followed in Auburn, of social labour, in silence, 
enforced by inspectors, and solitary confinement after work- 
ing-hours, is more conducive to the ends of criminal legis- 
lation. The principles now stated lead to the following 
conclusions : 

The system of entire solitude weakens the whole nervous 
system. It withdraws external excitement from the animal 
propensities, but it operates in the same manner on the 
organs of the moral and intellectual faculties. Social life is 
to these powers, what an open field is to the muscles ; it is 
their theatre of action, and without action there can be no 
vigour. Solitude, even when combined with labour, and the 
use of books, and an occasional visit from a religious in- 
structor, leaves the moral faculties still in a passive state, 
and without the means of vigorous active exertion. I stated 
to Mr. Wood, the able superintendent of the Eastern peni- 
tentiary, that, according to my view of the laws of physio- 
logy, his discipline reduced the tone of the whole nervous 



TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 269 

system to the level which is in harmony with solitude. The 
passions are weakened and subdued, but so are all the moral 
and intellectual powers. The susceptibility of the nervous 
system is increased, because all organs become susceptible 
of impressions, in proportion to their feebleness. A weak 
eye is pained by light, which is agreeable to a sound one. 
Hence, it may be quite true, that religious admonitions will 
be more deeply felt by prisoners living in solitude, than by 
those enjoying society ; just as such instruction, when ad- 
dressed to a patient recovering from a severe and debilitating 
illness, makes a more vivid impression than when delivered 
to the same individual in health : but the appearances of 
reformation founded on such impressions are deceitful. 
When the sentence is expired, the convict will return to 
society, with all his mental powers, animal, moral, and intel- 
lectual, increased in susceptibility, but lowered in strength. 
The excitements that will then assail him will have their 
influence doubled, by operating on an enfeebled system. If 
he meet old associates and return to drinking and profanity, 
the animal propensities will be fearfully excited by the force 
of these temptations, while his enfeebled moral and intel- 
lectual powers will be capable of offering scarcely any re- 
sistance. If he be placed amid virtuous men, his higher 
faculties will feel acutely, but be still feeble in executing 
their own resolves. Convicts, after long confinement in. 
solitude, shudder to encounter the turmoil of the world ; 
they become excited as the day of liberation approaches, 
and feel bewildered when set at liberty. In short, this sys- 
tem is not founded on, or in harmony with, a sound knowledge 
of the physiology of the brain, although it appeared to me 
to be well administered- 

These views are supported by the "report of Doctor 
James B. Coleman, physician to the New Jersey state-prison, 
(in which solitary confinement with labour is enforced,) ad- 
dressed to the Board of Inspectors, November, 1839. The 
report states, that, " among the prisoners there are many 
who exhibit a child-like simplicity, which shows them to be 
less acute than when they entered. In all who have been 
more than a year in prison, some of these effects have been 
observed. Continue the confinement for a longer time, and 
give them no other exercise of the mental faculties than this 
kind of imprisonment affords, and the most accomplished 
rogue will lose his capacity for depredating with success 
23* 



SYO TREATMENT OP CRIMINALS. 

upon the community. The same influence that injures the 
t)ther organs will soften the brain. Withhold its proper 
exercise, and as surely as the bandaged limb loses its power, 
will the prisoner's faculties be weakened by solitary confine- 
ment." He sums up the effect of the treatment in these 
words : " While it subdues the evil passions, almost paralyz- 
ing them for want of exercise, it leaves the individual, if still 
a rogue, one who may be easily detected ;" in other words, 
in reducing the energy of the organs of the propensities, it 
lowers also that of the organs of the moral and intellectual 
faculties, or causes the convict to approach more or less 
toward general idiocy. Dr. Coleman does not inform us 
whether the brain will not recover its vigour after liberation, 
and thus leave the offender as great a rogue after the close, 
as he was at the beginning, of his confinement. 

The Auburn system of social labour is better, in my 
opinion, than that of Pennsylvania, in so far as it allows of 
a little more stimulus to the social faculties, and does not 
weaken the nervous system to so great an extent : but it has 
no superiority in regard to providing efficient means for in- 
vigorating and training the moral and intellectual faculties. 
The Pennsylvania system preserves the convict from con- 
tamination by evil communications with his fellow-prisoners, 
and prevents his associates from knowing the fact of his 
being in prison. These are advantages that go so far to 
compensate the evils of solitude, but do not remove them. - * 

* While these remarks are passing through the press, I have 
seen an excellent work, entitled " The Philosophy of Human 
Life," by Amos Dean, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in 
the Albany Medical College ; on page 158 of whicii, there is a 
statement of improvements on prison-discipline, suggested by 
the late Edward Livingston, which coincide very closely with 
the views expressed on pages 258 and 259 of this work. I have 
not seen Mr. Livingston's own remarks ; but I am gratified to 
find that Mr. Dean, in his able and instructive work, advocates 
principles similar to those in the text. [Albany, N. Y.» 
January, 1840.] 



271 



LECTURE XV. 

DUTIES OP GUARDIANS, SURETIES, JURORS, AND ARBITRATORS, 

Guardianship — A duty not to be declined, though its perform- 
ance is sometimes repaid with ingratitude — The misconduct 
is often on the part of the guardians — Examples of both 
cases — Particular circumstances in which guardianship may 
be declined — Duties of guardians — They should study, and 
sedulously perform, the obligations incumbent on them — 
Property of wards not to be misapplied to guardians' own 
purposes — Co-guardians to be vigilantly watched, and check- 
ed when acting improperly — Care for the maintenance, 
education, and setting out in life, of the wards — Duty of 
suretyship — Dangers incurred by its performance — These 
may be lessened by Phrenology — Selfishness of those who 
decline to become sureties in any case whatever — Precau- 
tions under which suretyship should be undertaken — No 
man ought to bind himself that he may severely suffer, or to 
become surety for a sanguine and prosperous individual who 
merely wishes to increase his prosperity — Suretyship for 
good conduct — Precautions applicable to this — Duties of 
jurors — Few men capable of their satisfactory performance 
— Suggestions for the improvement of juries — Duties of 
arbitrators — Erroneous notions prevalent on this subject — 
Decisions of "honest men judging according to equity" — 
Principles of law ought not to be disregarded. 

Having discussed the social duties which we owe to the 
poor and to criminals, I proceed to notice several duties of 
a more private nature, but which still are strictly social 
and very important. I refer to the duties of guardianship 
and surety. 

As human life is liable to be cut short at any stage of its 
progress, there are always existing a considerable number 
of children who have been deprived, by death, of one or 
both of their parents ; and an obligation devolves on some 
one or more of the members of society, to discharge the 
duties of guardians toward them. When the children are 
left totally destitute, the parish is boundVto maintain them ; 
and that duty has already been considered under the head 
of the treatment of the poor. It is, therefore, only children 
who stand in need of personal guidance, and who inherit 
property that requires to be protected, whose case we are 
now considering. We may be called on to discharge these 
duties, either by the ties of nature, as being the next of kin, 



£72 DUTIES OP GUARDIANS. 

or by being nominated guardians or trustees in a deed of 
settlement executed by the parent who has committed his 
property and family to our care. 

Many persons do not regard these as moral, duties, but 
merely as discretionary acts, which one may discharge or 
decline without blame, according to his own inclination ; and 
there are individuals who recount some half dozen of 
instances in which trustees and guardians have been sub- 
jected to great labour and anxiety, and been rewarded 
with loss, obloquy, and ingratitude ; and who, on the excul- 
patory strength of these cases, wrap themselves up in im- 
penetrable selfishness, and, during their whole livei, decline 
to act as trustee or guardian for any human being. 

It is impossible to deny, that instances of flagrant ingra- 
titude to guardians have occurred on the part of young 
persons ; but these are the exceptions ; and if this system of 
declinature were to become general, young orphans would 
be left as aliens in society, the prey of every designing 
knave, or be cast on the cold affections of public officers 
appointed by the state to manage their affairs. 

While there are examples of misconduct and ingratitude 
on the part of wards, there are also, unfortunately, numerous 
instances of malversation on the part of guardians ; and 
those who are chargeable with this offence, are often, when 
called on to account for the funds intrusted to their care, 
the loudest in complaining of hardship, and want of just 
feeling on the part of wards. I have known some instances, 
indeed, but very few, in which children, whose affairs had 
been managed with integrity, and whose education had been 
superintended with kindness and discretion, have proved 
ungrateful ; but I have known several flagrant instances of 
cruel mismanagement by guardians. In one instance, a 
common soldier, who had enlisted and gone to the Peninsular 
war, left two children, and property yielding about £70 
a year, under charge of a friend. He was not heard of for 
a considerable time, and the report became current that 
he had been killed. The friend put the children into the 
charity work-house of the town as paupers, and appropriated 
the rents to his own use. A relative of the soldier, who 
lived at a distance, at last got tidings of the circumstance, 
obtained a legal appointment of himself as guardian to the 
children, took them out of the work-house, prosecuted the false 
friend, and compelled him to refund the spoils of his treachery 



DUTIES OF GUARDIANS. 273 

In another instance, both the father and mother of two 
female children died, when the eldest of the children was 
only about three years of age. The father was survived by 
a brother, and also by a friend, both of whom he named as 
guardians. He left about £3000 of property. The bro- 
ther was just starting in business, and had the world before 
him. He put £1500 of the trust-money into his own 
pocket, without giving any security to the children ; and, 
during the whole of their minority, he used it as his own, and 
paid them neither capital nor interest. His co-trustee, who 
was no relation in blood, was an example of generosity as 
strikingly as this individual was of selfishness. He lent 
out the other £1500, took the children into his house, 
educated them along with his own family, applied the in- 
terest of the half of their fortune which he had rescued, 
faithfully for their benefit, and finally accounted to them 
honestly for every farthing. When the children became of 
age, they prosecuted their disinterested uncle for the portion 
of their funds which he had mistaken for his own ; and, after 
a considerable litigation, they succeeded in recovering 
principal, interest, and compound interest, which the court 
awarded to them in consequence of the flagrancy of the 
case ; but they were loudly taxed by him and his family 
with ingratitude and want of due affection, for calling to a 
court of law so near and dear a relative. 

As a contrast to this case, I am acquainted with an in- 
stance, in which a body of trustees, named in a deed of set- 
tlement by a mere acquaintance, a person who had no claim 
on their services through relationship, managed, for many 
years, the funds of a young family — superintended the 
education of the children — and accounted faithfully for every 
farthing that came into their own possession ; but who, at 
the close of their trust, owing to their having employed a 
law-agent who did not attend to his duty, and to the children 
having turned out immoral, were sued personally for £1000 
each, and were involved in a very troublesome and ex- 
pensive litigation. 

I mention these facts to convey to the younger part of 
my audience, who may not have had experience in such 
matters, an idea at once of the trouble and risks which often 
accompany the duty of guardianship. At the same time, I 
have no hesitation in saying, that I consider every man 
bound to undertake that duty, with all its discomforts and 



274 DUTIES OF GUARDIANS. 

dangers, where the dictates of the higher sentiments urge 
him to do so. If one of our own relatives have been laid in 
a premature grave, nature calls aloud on us to assist and 
guide his children with our experience and advice. If we 
have passed our lives in habits of sincere friendship and in- 
terchange of kindness, with one who is not connected with us 
by relationship, and if that friend be called, before the ordi- 
nary period of human life, to part with his family for ever, 
we are bound, by all the higher and purer feelings of our 
nature, to lend our utmost aid in protecting and assisting his 
surviving partner and children, if requested by him to do so. 

There are instances, however, in which men, from their 
vanity or more selfish motives, do not appeal, in their deeds 
of settlement, to their own respectable relatives and friends 
for assistance ; but name men of eminent rank as the guar- 
dians of their children, under the double expectation of 
adding a posthumous lustre to their own names, and securing 
a distinguished patronage to their family. This practice is 
disowned by conscience and by just feelings of indepen- 
dence ; and trustees called on in such circumstances to act, 
are clearly entitled to decline. 

Suppose, then, that a case presents itself, in which one of 
us feels himself called on to accept the office of a trustee 
or guardian, under a deed of settlement — what is it his duty 
to do 1 There are certain rules of law laid down for the 
guidance of persons acting in these capacities, with which he 
should, at the very outset, make himself acquainted. They 
are framed for the direction of average men, and, on the 
whole, prescribe a line of duty which tends essentially to 
protect the ward, but which also, when observed, afford an 
equal protection to the guardian. It has often appeared to 
me, from seeing the loss and suffering to which individuals 
are exposed from ignorance of the fundamental rules of law 
on this subject, that instruction in them, and in other prin- 
ciples of law applicable to duties which the ordinary' mem- 
bers of society are called on to discharge, should form a 
branch of general education. 

After having become acquainted with our duties as trus- 
tees or guardians, we should bend our minds sedulously to 
the upright discharge of them. We should lay down a 
positive resolution not to convert our wards, or their property 
and affairs, into sources of gain to ourselves, and not to 
suffer any of our co-trustees to do such an act. 



DUTIES OF GUARIMAN'S. 27§ 

However tempting it may be to employ their capital in 
our own business, and however confident we may feel that 
we shall, in the end, honestly account to them for every 
farthing, still, I say, we ought not to yield to the temptation. 
The moment we do so, we commit their fortunes to all the 
hazards of our own ; and this is a breach of trust. We 
place ourselves in circumstances in which, by the failure 
of our own schemes, we may become the instruments of 
robbing and ruining helpless and destitute children, com- 
mitted, as the most sacred charges, to our honesty and 
honour. If this grand cause of malversation be avoided, 
there is scarcely another that may not be easily resisted. 
.. After abstaining ourselves from misapplying the funds of 
our wards, the next duty is, to watch over our co-trustees 
or guardians, that none of them may fall into that temptation. 
Men of sensitive, delicate, and upright minds, who are not 
in the least prone to commit this offence themselves, often 
feel extraordinary hesitation in checking a less scrupulous 
co-trustee in his malpractices. They view the act as so 
dishonourable that they shrink from taxing another with it ; 
and try to shut their eyes to mismanagement as long as 
possible, solely from aversion to give pain by bringing it to 
a close. But this is a weakness which is not founded in 
reason, but on a most erroneous view both of duty and of 
human nature. I can testify, from my knowledge of human 
feelings, gained by means both of phrenology and of some 
experience and observation in the world, that a man who is 
thoroughly upright and honest, never objects to be looked 
after with the utmost strictness : he is conscious of virtue, 
and is pleased that his virtue should be discovered, which 
it can be most effectually by a close scrutiny of his conduct. 
"We shall never, therefore, offend a really good and trust- 
worthy man, by inquiring habitually how he is discharging 
his duty. On the contrary, he will invite us to do so ; and 
esteem us the more, the more attentively we watch over 
the affairs of our pupils.* On the other hand, if the organs 
of Conscientiousness be so defective in any individual, that 
he is tempted to misapply the funds committed to his care, 

* That steward whose account is clear, 
Demands his honour may appear : 
His actions never shun the light ; 
He is, and would be proved, upright. 

Gay's Fables. Part II. Fab. 6. 



276 SURETYSHIP. 

he stands the more in need of being closely watched, and 
of having his virtue supported by checks and counsel ; and 
we are doubly called on not to allow a false delicacy to seal 
our lips and tie up our hands, in the very circumstances 
where the free action of both is most needed. We, there- 
fore, cannot give just offence by the discharge of our duty 
in this respect. If our co-guardian be honest, he will thank 
us for our scrutiny ; whereas, if he be dishonest, his feeling 
of offence at our checking his peculation, is like that of a 
rogue at the officer who detects him and brings him to 
justice, and is beneath the serious consideration of any 
rational mind. 

But even in this case we shall give much less offence 
than we imagine. It is a fact, of which I am convinced 
by extensive observation, that men in whom the organs of 
Conscientiousness are deficient, and who are thereby more 
prone to yield to temptations to infringe justice, have very 
little of that sensibility to the disgrace of dishonesty, which 
better constituted minds feel so acutely ; and that we may 
speak to them very plainly about their departures from duty, 
without their feeling debased. But whether they feel offend- 
ed or not, it is the duty of their co- trustees to prevent them 
from doing wrong. 

If the funds of our pupils be properly preserved and pro- 
fitably invested, there will generally be little risk of great 
failures in the remaining duties of trustees and guardians. 
These consist generally in seeing that the children are 
properly maintained, educated, and set out in life. Every 
trustee will be more able to discharge these duties well, in 
proportion to the range and value of his own information. 
The lectures delivered under the auspices of this associa- 
tion must conduce greatly toward rendering the citizens of 
Edinburgh better qualified to discharge this social duty. The 
views which they here obtain of the nature of man, and of 
the physical world, and of the relations between them, must 
open up their minds to a perception of what constitutes a 
really good education, and also render them better judges 
of the talents, dispositions, and acquirements, on which 
success in life most generally depends, and thereby enable 
them to see that these are duly cultivated in their pupils. 

The next social duty to which I advert, is that of surety- 
ship, or cautionry, as it is called in Scotland. A surety 
may either engage to pay a certain sum of money, if the 



SURETYSHIP. 377 

principal obligant fail ; or become bound for his good be- 
haviour and proper discharge of duty, in any office to which 
he has been appointed. Great losses and much misery often 
arise from suretyship ; and, in consequence, many persons- 
lay down the rule never to become surety for any human 
being ; while others, of a more generous and confiding na- 
ture, are ready to bind themselves for almost every one who- 
gives them solemn assurances that they will never be called 
on to pay. I shall attempt to expound the philosophy of the 
subject, and we shall then be better able to judge of our duty. 

Suretyship is a lame substitute for a knowledge of human 
character. There are individual men whose prudence and 
integrity are proof against every temptation ; and if we were 
certain that any particular individual whom we were about 
to trust, or whom w r e intended to employ confidentially in 
our affairs, was one of these, we should desire no other 
security for his solvency or good conduct than that afforded 
by his own noble nature. But we know that there are 
plausible and ostensibly honest men, who are rogues at the 
bottom, and we never feel certain that the individual whom 
we are about to trust or employ may not, in an unlucky 
hour, be found to belong to this class. We, therefore, re- 
quire that some individual, who knows his dispositions and 
abilities, and is assured of his prudence and integrity, should 
certify his possession of these qualities to us, and certify 
them in the only way which can convince us of the entire 
sincerity of the recommendation, namely, by engaging to 
pay the debt which he incurs, if he do not, or to indemnify 
us, if, through negligence or dishonesty, he shall occasion 
any loss to arise to us. 

It appears to me that the practical application of phreno- 
logy will dimmish both the necessity of demanding security 
and the danger of undertaking it. I have repeatedly shown 
to you examples of the three classes of heads ; first, the 
class vsry imperfectly endowed in the moral and intellectual 
regions ; secondly, the class very favourably constituted, in 
which these higher organs have a decided preponderance ; 
and, thirdly, the class in which the three regions stand nearly 
in equilibrium. Now, no man of prudence, if he knew 
phrenology, would become security for men of the lowest 
class, nor be accessory, in any way, to placing them in situa- 
tions of trust ; because this would just be exposing them 
to temptations which their weak moral faculties were no*, 
24 



278 SURETYSHIP. 

capable of withstanding. Men having the highest or best 
combination of organs, if well educated, may be safely trusted 
without security ; or, if we do become bound for them, we 
have little to fear from their misconduct. I have mentioned 
that among several thousand criminal heads which I have 
seen, I have never met with one possessing the highest 
form of combination. Only once, in a penitentiary in Dub- 
lin, I found a female whose head approached closely to this 
standard, and I ventured to predict that there was diseased 
action in the brain. The jailer said he was not aware of 
there being disease, but that the woman was subject to 
intense and long-continued headaches, during which her 
mental perceptions became obscure ; and the physician, on 
hearing my remark, expressed his own matured conviction 
that there was diseased action in the brain. This leaves, 
then, only the middle class of individuals, or those in whose 
brains the organs of the propensities, moral sentiments, and 
intellect, are nearly equally balanced, as those for whose 
conduct surety would be required, and for whom it would 
be hazardous to give it. The necessity and the hazard both 
arise from the same cause. Individuals thus constituted 
may be moral, as long as external temptation is withheld ; 
but they may, at any time, lapse into dishonesty, when 
strong inducements are presented ; and often the possession 
of property, committed to their charge in a confidential 
manner — that is to say, in such a way that they may mis- 
apply it for a time without detection — operates as an irre- 
sistible temptation, and, to the consternation of their sureties, 
they change their character, in the very circumstances in 
which their good conduct was most implicitly relied on. 
We sometimes read in the newspapers of enormous embez- 
zlements, or breaches of trust, or disgraceful bankruptcies, 
committed by men who, during a long series of years, had 
enjoyed the most reputable characters ; and the unreflecting 
wonder how men can change so suddenly, or how, after having 
known the sweets of virtue, they can be so infatuated as to 
part with them all, for the hollow illusions of criminal gain. 
But the truth ;s, that these men belong to the class in which 
the three regions of the brain are nearly equally balanced, 
and their virtue never at any time stood on a very stable 
foundation. It was poised like a pyramid on its apex, and 
the breath of external temptation was sufficient at any mo- 
ment to overset it. Many small slips from the code of per- 



SURETYSHIP. 279 

feet morality probably preceded the grand catastrophe ; 
which, moreover, was hastened, if not induced, by the facili- 
ties for doing wrong, afforded by the very confidence and 
good reputation which they had previously enjoyed. 

It is of some importance to know the characteristic dis- 
tinctions of the different classes of minds, in judging with 
respect to suretyship ; because, looking at such obligations, 
we observe that in some cases they lead to no loss, while 
in others they are ruinous in the extreme. The judgment 
is perplexed while we have no means of accounting for 
these differences of result ; but if you will study phreno- 
logy, and apply it practically, it will clear up many of these 
apparent anomalies, and enable you to judge when you are 
safe, and when exposed to danger. 

We come now to inquire into the practical rule which 
we should follow, in regard to becoming sureties. In the 
present state of society, the exacting of security is in many 
instances indispensable ; and I cannot, therefore, see any 
ground on which the selfishness of those who decline, in all 
circumstances, to undertake it can be defended. It appears 
to me to be a necessary duty, which presents itself to many 
individuals ; and that, although, when imprudently dis- 
charged, it may be hazardous, we are not, on that account, 
entitled entirely to shrink from it. There are several pre- 
cautions, however, which we are not only entitled, but called 
on, to adopt, for our own protection. In the first place, no 
man ought ever to bind himself to pay money to an extent; 
which, if exacted, would render him bankrupt ; for this 
would be to injure his creditors by his suretyship : nay, he 
should not bind himself gratuitously to pay any sum for an- 
other which, if lost, would seriously injure his own family. 
In short, no man is called on to undertake gratuitous and 
benevolent obligations beyond the extent which he can dis- 
charge without severe and permanent suffering to himself ; 
and in subscribing such obligations, he should invariably 
calculate on being called on to fulfil them by payment. In 
general, men, even of ordinary prudence, find, by experience, 
that they are compelled to pay at least one-half of all the 
cautionary obligations which they grant, and the imprudent 
even more. Unless, therefore, they are disposed to go to ruin 
in the career of social kindness, they should limit their obli- 
gations in proportion to their means. 

Secondly — We should consider the object sought to be 



280 SURETYSHIP. 

attained by the suretyship. If it be to enable a young man 
to get into a desirable employment, or to commence busi- 
ness on a moderate scale on his own account ; or if it be to 
help a friend, in a temporary, unexpected, and blameless 
emergency ; good may, in all of these instances, result from 
the act. But if it be merely to enable a person who is doing 
well, to do, as he imagines, a great deal better ; to enable 
him to extend his business, or to get into a more lucrative 
situation ; we may often pause, and doubt whether we are 
about to serve our friend, or injure both him and ourselves. 
According to my observation, the men who have succeeded 
best in the pursuits of this world, and longest and most 
steadily enjoyed prosperity and maintained character, are 
those who, from moderate beginnings, have advanced slowly 
and steadily along with the stream of events, aided chiefly 
by their own talents and mental resources ; men who have 
never hastened to be rich, but who, from the first, have seen 
that time, economy, and prudence, are the grand elements 
of ultimate success. These men ask only the means of a 
fair commencement, and afterward give no trouble, either 
to the public or to their friends. Success flows upon them 
as the natural result of their own course of action, and they 
never attempt to force it prematurely. 

There are other individuals, full of sanguine hope, inor- 
dinate ambition, or a boundless love of gain, who never 
discover the advantage of their present attainments, but who 
are constantly aiming at an imaginary prosperity, just at 
arm's length beyond their reach ; and they ask their friends 
to lend them the aid of their arms, to add to the length 
of their own, assured that they will then seize the prize. 
These persons urge their friends to become sureties for 
them to raise money, in order to extend their business. I 
would humbly recommend to those to whom this appeal is 
made, to moderate the pace of their sanguine friends, instead 
of accelerating it ; to advise them to practice economy and 
patience, and to wait till they acquire capital of their own 
to increase their trade. The mental weakness 01 such men 
arises from their own over-sanguine, ambitious, and grasping 
disposition ; and it is liable to be fostered, and rendered 
more dangerous, by encouragement. The chances ai e many, 
that they will ruin themselves, and bring serious loss on 
their sureties. I have seen the most deplorable examples 
of families absolutely ruined by a single member of them 



SURETYSHIP. 281 

possessing this character, who, by his brilliant representa- 
tions of approaching fortune, succeeded in obtaining posses- 
sion of the moderate patrimonies of his brothers and sisters, 
the funds provided for his mother's annuity, in short, the 
whole capital left by his father, as the fruit of a long and 
laborious life — and who, in a few years, had dissipated 
every sixpence of it in enterprizes and speculations of the 
most extravagant description. 

One benefit of phrenology, to those who make a practical 
use of it, is, to enable them to discriminate between a man's 
hopes and his real capacities. They are aware, when they 
see considerable deficiency in the organs of Intellect, or in 
those of Cautiousness, Conscientiousness, and Firmness, 
that whatever promises the individual may make, or how- 
ever sincere his own intentions of being prosperous may be, 
yet, if he involve himself in a multitude of affairs, beyond 
the reach of his intellectual powers, failure will be inevita- 
ble ; and they act accordingly. I have repeatedly urged 
individuals to abstain from assisting characters of this de- 
scription to extend their speculations, and advised them to 
reserve their funds for emergencies of a different description, 
which were certain to arise ; and at the distance of a few 
years, after the advice had been forgotten by me, they have 
returned and thanked me for the counsel. Such speculative 
men generally fall into great destitution in the end ; and 
my recommendation to their relatives has uniformly been, 
to reserve their own means, with the view of saving them 
from abject poverty, when their schemes shall have reached 
their natural termination in ruin ; and this has been found 
to be prudent advice. 

As a general rule, therefore, I would dissuade you from 
undertaking suretyship merely to increase the quantity, or 
accelerate the march, of prosperity, if your friend, by the aid 
of time, prudence, and economy, may ultimately command 
success by his own resources. 

The last rule in regard to suretyship which I shall state 
is, that, in becoming bound for the good conduct of an indi- 
vidual in a new employment, you should be well aware that 
the situation into which you are about to introduce him is 
one suited to his natural dispositions and capacities, and not 
one calculated to bring the weaker elements of his character 
into play, and be the means of ruining him, as well as 
injuring yourselves. Suppose, for example, that a young 
24* 



382 DUTIES OP JURORS. 

man has any latent seeds of the love of intemperance, or 
even great conviviality, in his constitution, or that he is fond 
of a wandering and unsettled life, and that, by becoming 
surety for his good conduct and faithful accounting, you get 
him employed as a mercantile travelling agent, you mani- 
festly expose him to temptations which may completely 
upset his virtue. I have known individuals, who, in more 
favourable circumstances, had acquired and maintained ex- 
cellent characters, ruined by this change. Again — If an 
individual be either extremely good-natured, so much so that 
he cannot resist solicitation ; or if he be extremely ambitious 
and fond of power, or very speculative ; if you aid him in 
obtaining an agency for a bank, in which he will obtain an 
immediate command of large sums of money, and be thereby 
exposed to solicitation, or tempted to indulge in magnifi- 
cence, or to speculate on his own account, for all of which 
the command of money presents many faculties, you may 
bring him to ruin, when you intended to do him a great 
service. It has been remarked, that more men prove un- 
successful as bank agents, than almost in any other office of 
trust ; and the reason appears to me to be, that the free 
command of money presents greater temptations to the weak 
points of character than almost any other external circum- 
stance. For this reason, it is only men of the highest 
natural moral qualities who should be appointed to such 
situations ; individuals whose integrity and love of justice 
and duty are their strongest feelings ; and then, with ave- 
rage intellectual endowments, their conduct will be irre- 
proachable. It is clear, that, until we possess an index to 
natural talents and dispositions which can be relied on in 
practice, much disappointment, loss, and misery, must inevi- 
tably be sustained, by the improper location or employment 
of individuals in the complicated relations of society ; and 
if phrenology promise to aid us in arriving at this object, 
it is worthy of our most serious consideration. 

Another social duty, which men are occasionally called 
on to discharge, is that of acting privately as arbitrators 
between disputing parties, or publicly as jurymen. Accord- . 
ing to the present practice, no special preparation for these 
duties is supposed to be necessary. A young man may have 
obtained any kind of education, or no education ; he may 
possess any degree of intelligence and talent ; and he may 
he upright in his dispositions, or very much the reverse ; 



duties or JURORS. $8S 

yet none of these things are of the least consideration, in 
regard to his qualification to serve as a juror : but as soon 
as he is found inhabiting a house, or possessing a shop, or a 
farm, of a certain rent, his name is placed on the list of 
jurors ; he is summoned, in his turn, to sit on the bench of 
justice, and there he disposes, by his vote, of the lives and 
fortunes of his fellow-men. The defence maintained for 
this system is, that as twelve individuals are selected in civil 
cases, and fifteen in criminal, the verdict will imbody the 
average intelligence and morality of the whole ; and that, 
as the roll of jurors includes all the higher and middle ranks, 
their decisions, if not absolutely perfect, will, at least, be the 
best that can be obtained. This apology is, to some extent, 
well founded ; and the superior intelligence of a few fre- 
quently guides a vast amount of ignorance and dulness in a 
jury. Still, the extent of this ignorance and inaptitude is 
a great evil ; and as it is susceptible of removal, it should 
not be permitted to continue. 

All of you who have served as jurors, must be aware of 
the great disadvantages under which individuals labour in 
that situation, from want of original education, as well as 
from the want of the practice of mental application. I knew 
an instance in which a jury, in a civil cause which embraced 
a long series of transactions, of bills, purchases, sales, excise 
entries, permits, and other technical formalities, was com- 
posed of four Edinburgh traders and of eight men balloted 
from the county of Edinburgh, where it borders on Lanark- 
shire and Peeblesshire ; men who occupied small farms, 
who held the plough and drove their own carts ; persons 
of undoubted respectability and intelligence in their own 
sphere, but who knew nothing of mercantile affairs ; whose 
education and habits rendered them totally incapable ot 
taking notes of the evidence, and, of course, of forming any 
judgment for themselves. When the jury retired, at ten 
o'clock at night, after a trial of twelve hours, one of the mer- 
chants was chosen foreman, and he asked the opinion of his 
brethren in succession. Eight of them echoed the charge 
of the presiding judge ; but the other three announced a 
contrary opinion. The jurors from the country, seeing that 
the merchants were all on one side, in opposition to them, 
acknowledged that the details of the case had extended far 
beyond their capacity of comprehension ; that they really 
could form no judgment on the question, and therefore 



284 1X7T1KS OF jORORS. 

concluded that it was safest to follow the judge. The 
minority differed from the judge ; they took great pains in 
explaining, from their own notes, the leading circumstances 
to the majority, and succeeded in bringing them round to 
their opinion ; and the result was, a verdict of a totally 
opposite description to that at first proposed. I obtained 
this information, the day after the trial, from one of those 
who had stood in the minority. The verdict was right, 
and no attempt was made to disturb it by the party who 
lost his cause. 

The majority here were not to blame ; they had been 
called on to discharge a public duty for which they were 
totally unprepared, and they did their best to attain the ends 
of justice. But what T humbly submit to your consideration 
is, that as the ordinary members of the community are called 
on to exercise the very important office of jurors, and may 
become the instruments of taking away the life or property 
of their fellow-men, their education should be so conducted 
as to qualify them, to a reasonable extent, for discharging 
so grave a duty. If we were accustomed to look on our 
social duties as equally important with our private interests, 
instruction calculated to qualify us to comprehend questions 
of private right and public criminality, would undoubtedly 
form a branch of our youthful learning. It has sometimes 
occurred to me, that it would be useful to confer certificates, 
or degrees of qualification, on young men, founded on an 
examination into their educational attainments, and that these 
should be indispensable to their being placed on the roll 
of jurors, or even of voters, and also to their exercising any 
public office of trust, honour, or emolument. The effects 
of such a regulation would probably be, that it would be 
considered disgraceful to want this qualification ; that pa- 
rents would strain every nerve to obtain it for their children ; 
and that men who must be the architects of their own 
fortunes, would begin by pursuing such studies as would 
enable them to acquire it. The standard of education is 
still very low, even in Scotland ; but in England it is much 
more so. I knew an Englishman who had acquired a for- 
tune exceeding £70,000, whose whole educational acquire- 
ments consisted in reading and the ability to subscribe his 
own name. He was, as you may suppose, a man of great 
natural talent. He travelled with a clerk, who conducted 
his correspondence, drew his bills, kept his books, and sup* 



BUTIES OF ARBITRATORS. 285 

plied the want of original education, as far as this could be 
done ; but he strongly felt the extent of his own defects. 
His affairs required such constant active exertion, that he 
had found it impossible, after he had entered into business, 
to educate himself ; and he was so far advanced in life when 
I conversed with him, that he had then no hopes of going 
to school. 

Analogous to the duty of jurors, is that of acting as arbi- 
trator between individuals who have differences which they 
•cannot amicably settle. This being altogether a voluntary 
duty, it maybe supposed that those only who are well known 
to be qualified for it, will be called on to discharge it : but 
the reverse is too often the case. Individuals who are 
themselves ignorant of the nature of an arbitrator's duties, 
are no judges of what qualifies another person to discharge 
them, and often make most preposterous selections. It is 
indeed a very common opinion, that the referee is the advo- 
cate of the party who nominates him, and that his duty 
consists in getting as many advantages for his friend as 
possible. Hence, in anticipation of disagreement, power is 
given to the two referees, in case of difference in opinion, 
to choose a third, whose award shall be final ; and not un- 
frequently this oversman, as he is called in Scotland, halves 
the points of difference between the two discordant arbitra- 
tors, and assumes that this must be absolute justice. 

It is a favourite maxim with persons not conversant with 
law, that all disputes are best settled by a reference to 
" honest men judging according to equity." I have never 
been blind to the imperfections of law and of legal decisions ; 
but I must be permitted to say, that I have seen the worst 
of them far surpassed in absurdity and error by the deci- 
sions of honest men judging according to equity. If any of 
you have ever acted as an arbitrator, he must have found 
that the first difficulty that presented itself to his under- 
standing was the wide difference between the contending 
parties regarding matters of fact. The law solves this 
difficulty, by requiring evidence, and by establishing rules * 
for determining what evidence shall be sufficient. Honest 
men, in general, hold themselves to be quite capable of 
discovering, by the inherent sagacity of their own minds, 
which statement is true, and which false, without any 
evidence whatever, or, at least, by the aid of a very lam« 
probation. The next difficulty which an arbitrator experi- 



286 DUTIES OF ARBITRATORS. 

cnces is, to discover a principle in reason, by which to 
regulate his judgment, so that impartial men may be capable 
of perceiving why he decides as he does, and that the parties 
themselves may see that justice has been done to them. In 
courts of law, certain rules, which have been derived from 
a comprehensive survey of human affairs and much expe- 
rience, are taken as the guides of the understanding in such 
circumstances. These are called rules or principles of law. 
They do not always possess the characteristics of wisdom 
which I have here described, nor are they always success- 
fully applied ; but the objects aimed at, both in framing 
and applying them, are unquestionably truth and justice. 
Yet honest men, judging according to equity, too frequently 
treat all such rules with contempt, assume their own feel- 
ings to be better guides, and conceive that they have 
dispensed absolute justice, when they have followed the 
dictates of their own understandings, unenlightened, inex- 
perienced, and sometimes swayed by many prejudices. 

I recollect a decision of this kind, which astonished both 
parties. A trader in Edinburgh had ordered a cargo of 
goods from Liverpool, according to a description clearly 
given in a letter. They were sent, and invoiced according 
to the description. When they arrived, it was discovered 
that they were greatly inferior, and even some of the articles 
different in kind from what were ordered ; and also that 
they were faded, and on the point of perishing through decay. 
The purchaser refused to receive them ; the seller insisted ; 
and the question wa*s referred to an "honest man." He 
decided that the goods were not conformable to the order 
given, and that the purchaser was not bound to receive 
them ; but he nevertheless condemned the purchaser to pay 
the freight from Liverpool, and all the expenses of the 
arbitration ; and assigned as his reasons for doing so, that 
he, the arbitrator, was not bound by rules of law, but was 
entitled to act according to equity ; that the seller would 
sustain an enormous loss, by disposing of the cargo at Leith 
for what it would bring ; that the purchaser had escaped a 
ruinous loss, by being allowed to reject it ; that, therefore, 
it was very equitable that the purchaser should bear a little 
of the seller's burden ; and that the freight and costs formed 
a very moderate portion of the total evil to be sustained. 
He added, that it would teach the purchaser not to order . 
vhole cargoes again, which he thought was going beyond 



DUTIES OF ARBITRATORS. 287 

the proper limits of his trade ; besides, it was a very dan- 
gerous thing for any man to order a whole cargo, especially 
when he had not seen the goods before they were shipped. 

Perhaps some person may be found, to whom this may 
appear to be a very just judgment ; but to every one ac- 
quainted with the principles of trade, and who perceives that 
the seller's bad faith, or unbusiness-like error, was the sole 
cause of the evil, it must appear, at best, as a well intended 
absurdity, if not a downright iniquity. 

I know another case, in which the arbitrator found him- 
self much puzzled, and resorted to this method of solving 
the difficulty. He called the two parties, Mr. A. and Mr. B., 
to meet him in a tavern, and placed them in separate rooms. 
He went first to Mr. A., and told him that he had seriously 
read all tne papers, and considered the case, and had come 
to the conclusion that he, Mr. A., was entirely in the wrong, 
and that he meant to decide against him, but had called 
him and Mr. B. to meet him, to try if it were possible to 
negotiate a compromise between them, to save himself from 
the disagreeable necessity of pronouncing such a decision. 
He concluded by asking Mr. A. what was the largest sum 
he would voluntarily offer, to avoid the impending decision. 
Mr. A., after expressing his surprise and disappointment, 
and arguing his case anew, which argument was heard 
patiently, and pronounced to be unsatisfactory, at last named 
a sum. The arbitrator proceeded to the room in which 
Mr. B. was waiting, and told him that he had studied the 
case, &c, and was extremely sorry that he regarded him as 
completely in the wrong, and meant to decide against him ; 
but as he had a regard for him, he begged to know the 
smallest sum which he was willing to accept, if Mr. A. could 
be induced to offer it, as an amicable compromise, to save 
him the pain of pronouncing such a judgment. Mr. B. 
argued, and was listened to ; his arguments were repelled, 
ind he was again solicited to name a sum, under pain of 
naving a decision immediately pronounced, which would 
deprive him of all. He at last named a sum. There was 
a wide difference between the sums named ; but the referee 
was not to be defeated ; he went backward and forward 
between them, constantly threatening each in turn with his 
adverse decision, till he forced the one up and beat the other 
down, so that they at last met ; and then, keeping them 
still apart, he caused each of them to subscribe a binding 



2SS GOVERNMENT. 

letter of compromise. This accomplished, he introtfacei? 
them to each other, and boasted of the equity of his mode 
of settling the dispute. 

One practical remark which I beg leave to offer on the 
subject is, that the education of lawyers should embrace 
more instruction in the business affairs of the world than 
it does, and that the education of practical men should in- 
clude some information concerning those great principles 
of law which have been found, in an extensive series of 
instances, to lead most successfully to justice. In this way y 
the lawyer would be better guided, by the knowledge of 
business, both in framing and in applying his legal rules, 
while the mercantile arbitrator would enjoy the advantage 
of profounder principles to assist his judgment ; and a 
purer administration of justice by both public and private 
tribunals would probably be the beneficial result. 



LECTURE XVI. 

GOVERNMENT. 

Various theories of the origin of government — Theory derived 
from Phrenology — Circumstances which modify the charac- 
ter of a government — Government is the just exercise of the 
power and authority of a nation, delegated to one or a few 
for the general good — General consent of the people its only 
moral foundation — Absurdity of doctrine of the Divine right 
of governors — Individuals not entitled to resist the govern- 
ment whenever its acts are disapproved by them — Rational' 
mode of reforming a government — Political improvement 
slow and gradual — Advantages thence resulting — Indepen- 
dence and liberty of a nation distinguished — French govern- 
ment before and after the revolution — British government 
— Relations of different kinds of government to the human 
faculties — Conditions necessary for national independence : 
(1.) Adequate size of brain ; (2.) Intelligence and love of 
country sufficient to enable the people to act in concert, 
and sacrifice private to public advantage — National liberty 
— High moral and intellectual qualities necessary for its 
attainment— Illustrations of the foregoing principles from 
history — Republics of North and South America contrasted 
— The Swiss and Dutch— Failure of the attempt to intro- 
duce a free constitution into Sicily. 

Various opinions have been entertained by philosophers- 
regarding the origin of government. Some have viewed 
k as an extension of the parental authority instituted bv 



GOVERNMENT. 



Nature ; others as founded on a compact, by which the 
subjects surrendered part of their natural liberty to their 
rulers, and obtained in return an obligation for protection, 
and the administration of just laws for the public benefit. 
Some have assigned to it a Divine origin, and held that 
kings and rulers, of every rank, are the delegates of heaven, 
and have a title to exercise dominion, altogether indepen- 
dently of the will of their subjects. None of these views 
appear to me to reach the truth. 

in the human mind, as disclosed to us by phrenology, 
we find social instincts, the activity of which leads man to 
congregate in society. We discover, also, organs of Vene- 
ration, giving the tendency to look up with respect to superior 
power, to bow before it, and to obey it. There are also 
Organs of Self-Esteem, prompting men to assume authority, 
to wield it, and to exact obedience. Government seems to 
me to spring from the spontaneous activity of these faculties, 
combined with intellect, without any special design or agree- 
ment on the part either of governors or of subjects. In rude 
ages, individuals possessing large brains, (which give force of 
character,) active temperaments, and large organs of Self-Es- 
teem and Love of Approbation, would naturally assume supe- 
riority, and instinctively command. Men with smaller brains, 
less mental energy, and considerable Veneration, would as 
instinctively obey ; and hence government would begin. 

This is still seen among children ; for in their enterprises 
they have leaders, whom they follow and obey, on account 
of some such qualifications as those now enumerated. A 
good illustration of this occurs in the autobiography of 
Benjamin Franklin. The force of character arising from 
his large brain, and his fertility in expedients, made him a 
ruler in childhood as well as in mature age. " Residing 
near the water," says he, " I was much in it and on it. I 
learned to swim well, and to manage boats ; and, when 
embarked with other boys, I was commonly allowed to 
govern, especially in any case of difficulty ; and upon other 
occasions I was generally the leader of the boys." 

In proportion as the moral and intellectual faculties 
develope themselves in the tribe or nation, there is a ten- 
dency to define and set limits to the power of the rulers, and 
to ascertain and enlarge the boundaries of the liberties of 
the subjects. External circumstances also modify the cha- 
racter of the government. If surrounded by powerful and 
25 



290 GOVERNMENT. 

ambitious neighbours, the subjects of a particular state fore* 
go many individual advantages, for the sake of the higher 
security which they derive from placing the whole power of 
the nation in the hands of a single individual. They prefer 
a despotism, because it enables the executive government 
to concentrate and propel the whole physical force of the 
kingdom against an invading enemy. In other circum- 
stances, where local situation, such as that of England, or 
that of the United States of North America, exposes the na- 
tional independence to few dangers, the subjects, in propor- 
tion to their moral and intellectual advancement, naturally 
limit the power of their sovereigns. 

1 regard the form of government of any particular country 
to have arisen from the following causes, or some combi- 
nation of them : * 

First — The size and particular combination of the organs 
in the brains of the people. 

Secondly — The temperament of the people. 
Thirdly — The soil and climate of the nation. 
Fourthly — The character and condition of the nations with 
whom they are geographically in contact. And, 

Lastly — The extent of moral and intellectual cultivation 
which the people have undergone. 

Rationally viewed, government is the just exercise, by 
one or a few individuals, of the power and authority of the 
nation, delegated to them for the general good ; and the 
only moral foundation for it is the general consent of the 
people. There may be conquest, and master and slaves ; 
but this form of government is the result of force triumph- 
ing over right ; and one duty incumbent on the people in 
such a state of things is, to overthrow the victor's dominion 
as speedily as possible. B.ulers and subjects are all equally 
men, and equally placed under the Divine laws, whether 
written in our nature or in scripture ; and as these proclaim 
the obligation on each of us to do to others as we would 
have them to do unto us, and to love our neighbours as 
ourselves, the notion of right in any one man'or class of 
men to rule, for their own pleasure or advantage, over their 
neighbours, against the inclination and contrary to the wel- 
fare of the parties governed, is utterly excluded. The only 
government which the moral and intellectual faculties can 
recognise as founded in nature, is one that flows from, and 
is exercised directly for the benefit of, the subjects. The 
idea that kings, princes, and nobles have rights of property 



GOVERNMENT. 291 

in the homage, services, and devotion of other men, which 
they are entitled to' exact for their own benefit and gratifica- 
tion, whether agreeable to the will of the subjects or not, 
appears to me to be preposterous in the extreme. It is an 
example of the selfish system carried to infatuation, in which 
individual rights become an overwhelming idea, and oblite- 
rate from the mind all moral and intellectual perceptions in- 
consistent with themselves. The Bourbons pretended to 
have Divine right of this kind to govern France ; and when 
Louis XVIII. was restored by the victorious arms of the 
sovereigns of Europe, he, out of his mere grace, issued a 
charter, conferring a certain extent of freedom on the French 
nation. After the revolution of July, 1830, when Charles X. 
was driven from the throne, the French abjured the principle, 
and, to prevent its recurrence, insisted that Louis Philippe 
should be styled the king, not of France, but of the French ; 
thai is, chosen by the French people to rule over them. 

The idea that government is instituted and maintained 
exclusively for the welfare of the people, does not, however, 
imply that each individual is authorized to resist it, when- 
ever he conceives that it is injurious to his particular 
interests, or disagreeable to his taste. The social law of our 
nature, out of which government springs, binds us together 
for good and also for evil. I have endeavoured to show that 
we cannot attain to the full gratification of our own desires, 
even although enlightened and reasonable, unless we can 
persuade our neighbours to adopt the same social movements 
with ourselves. If we attempt to advance alone, even to 
good, we shall find ourselves situated like a soldier on a 
march, who should move faster or slower than his column. 
He would be instantly jostled out of the ranks, and compelled 
to walk by himself. The same result occurs in regard to 
individual attempts to arrest or improve a government. The 
first step, in a rational and moral course of action, is to con- 
vince our fellow-men of the evils which we wish to have 
removed, and to engage their co-operation in obtaining a 
remedy ; and until this be done, to continue to obey. As 
soon as the evil is generally perceived, and a desire for its 
removal pervades the public mind, the amendment becomes 
easy of accomplishment. By the social law, individuals who 
attempt changes, however beneficial, on public institutions, 
without this preparation of the general mind, encounter all 
the hazards of being swept into perdition by the mere force 
of ancient prejudices and superstitions, even although these 



292 GOVERNMENT. 

may have their root entirely in ignoraaee, and may be dis- 
avowed by reason. The principlesjolphrenology are excels 
lent guides ; ihey teach us that the ^propensities and senti- 
ments are mere blind instincts, and tfcat they often cling to 
objects to which they have been long devoted, independently 
of reason. They show us that, when we desire to change 
their direction, we must do much more than simply con- 
vince the understanding. We must, by quiet and gradual 
efforts, loosen the attachment of the feelings to the injurious 
objects, and, by soothing and persuasion, incline them to the 
new and better principles which we desire them to embrace. 

There is the soundest wisdom in this arrangement of 
Providence, by which political improvement is slow and 
gradual ; because, in the very nature of things, pure moral 
institutions cannot flourish and produce their legitimate 
fruits, unless the people for whom they are intended possess 
moral and intellectual qualities corresponding with them. 
This fact will become abundantly evident, when we trace 
the progress of government a little in detail. 

The first requisite toward the formation of a government 
by a nation is, that it be independent of foreign powers. 
If it do not possess independence, the people must of neces- 
sity submit to the will of their foreign master, who generally 
rules them according to narrow views of his own advantage, 
without the least regard to their feelings or welfare. 

Great confusion prevails in the minds of many persons, 
regarding the words liberty and independence, when applied 
to nations. A nation is independent when it does not owe 
submission to any foreign power. Thus, France and Spain, 
under the Bourbon dynasties, before the French revolution, 
were both independent ; they owned no superior : but they 
were not free ; the people did not enjoy liberty : that is to 
say, their internal government was despotic ; the personal 
liberty, lives, and fortunes of the subject were placed at the 
uncontrolled disposal of the sovereign. No foreign poten- 
tate could oppress a Frenchman with impunity, because the 
offender would have been chastised by the French govern- 
ment, which was independent and powerful, and made it 
a point of honour to protect its subjects from foreign ag- 
gression — for permitting this would have implied its own 
imbecility or dependence. But a Frenchman enjoyed no 
protection from the arbitrary and unjust acts of his own 
government at home. The kings were in the practice of 
issuing " Lettres de cachet*" or warrants for the secret 



GOVERNMENT. 293 

imprisonment of any individual, for an indefinite period, with- 
out trial, without even specifying his offence, and without 
allowing him to communicate with any power or person, for 
his protection or vindication. There was no restraint against 
the murder of the victim, when so imprisoned ; so that life 
was as insecure as liberty. 

Under that sway, the French nation was independent, but 
the people were not free. They are now both independent 
and free ; for no foreign nation rules over them, and they, as 
individuals, are protected by the law from all arbitrary inter- 
ference with their private rights by their own government. 
The inhabitants of Britain have long enjoyed both advantages. 

England has been independent almost since the Romans 
left the country ; for although it was conquered by the Nor- 
mans, in the year 1066, the conquerors fixed their residence 
in the vanquished territory, made it their home, and in a 
few generations were amalgamated with the native popula- 
tion. But England was not properly free till after the revo- 
lution in 1688. The Scottish and Irish nations now form, 
along with England, one empire, which is independent, and 
all the people of which are free : that is, the nation owns no 
superior on earth and every individual is protected by the laws, 
in his person, his property, and privileges, not only against 
the aggressions of his neighbours, but against the government 
itself. The only obligation incumbent on the subject toward 
the state is to obey the laws ; and when he has done so, the 
rulers have no power over him whatever for evil. 

The history of the world shows that some nations live 
habitually under subjection to foreign powers : that other 
nations are independent, but not free ; while a few, a very 
few indeed, enjoy at once the blessings of independence and 
liberty. It may be advantageous to investigate the causes 
of these different phenomena. 

The social duties which we owe to our rulers are extreme- 
ly important ; yet we cannot comprehend them aright, with- 
out understanding thoroughly the subject of government it- 
self, and the relations of the different kinds of it to the human 
faculties. On this account, the brief exposition which I 
propose to give of this subject is not foreign to the grand 
question of our moral duty. 

To secure and maintain national independence, the first 
requisite in the people appears to be adequate size of brauu 
You are well acquainted with the phrenological principle,. 
25* 



294 GOVERNMENT. 

that size of brain, other conditions being equal, is the mea- 
sure of mental power. Now, all experience shows, that 
wherever a people possessing small brains have been invaded 
by one possessing large brains, they have fallen prostrate 
before them. The Peruvians, Mexicans, and Hindoos have 
uniformly been deprived of their independence when invaded 
by European nations, whose brains are larger. On the con- 
trary, wherever the invaded people have possessed brains 
larger, or as large, as those of their assailants, and also the 
second requisite for independence, which I shall immediately 
mention, they have successfully resisted. The Caribs, 
Araucanians, Caffres, and others, are examples of barbarian 
tribes, with brains of a full size, successfully resisting the 
efforts of Europeans to enslave them.* 

The blessing of independence to a nation is invaluable, 

* The first phrenological elucidation of the causes of the 
Independence and Liberty of nations was given by Mr. 
George Lyon, of Edinburgh, in several able Essays published 
in the second and third volumes of the Phrenological Journal 
in 1825 and 1826. The evidence of the soundness of the prin- 
ciples then advanced afforded by the specimens of the skulls 
of nations and tribes which have been conquered by European 
invaders, as well as those of tribes which have successfully 
resisted these invaders, contained in the collection of the Phre- 
nological Society at Edinburgh, is very striking. It has received 
a great accession of strength from the work of Dr. Morton, 
of Philadelphia, on the " Crania Americana." Dr. Pritchard, 
in the Natural History Section of the British Association, at a 
meeting held on the 29th August, 1839, brought forward a paper 
on the extermination of various uncivilized races of mankind, 
and recommended a grant of money for assisting his investiga- 
tions into their habits and history. He proceeded, apparently 
without having read the writings of phrenologists on the sub- 
ject, and certainly without having examined the evidence on it 
contained in the Phrenological Society's museum. Indeed, in 
answer to a question from Mr. H. C. Watson, he confessed 
that he had not examined the skulls in the museum. Dr. Prit- 
chard is a man of talents, and indeed he had need to be so, 
when he undertakes to elucidate the natural history of man, 
with a determined resolution to shut his eyes against the most 
important discovery that has ever been made in this branch of 
science. Nor does he stand alone in this determination. 
When the British Association met in Edinburgh, I wrote a let- 
ter offering to give a demonstration of the national skulls in the 
Phrenological Society's museum, before any of the sections 
in which such a communication could be received ; but the 
secretaries did not even answer my letter. 



GOVERNMENT. 295 

and these examples ought to operate as strong motives to 
the observance of the organic laws, in order to prevent de- 
terioration and diminution of the brain in a nation, and to 
avoid mental imbecility, which is their invariable accompani- 
ment. In Spain the aristocratic class had long been guilty 
of the neglect of those laws, and in the beginning of the 
present century her nobles and king were sunk into such 
effeminacy, that they became the easy prey and puppets of 
the men of energetic brains, who then swayed the destinies of 
France ; and it was only when the great body of the peo- 
ple, who were not so corrupted and debased, felt themselves 
insulted and oppressed by the French dominion, that they put 
forth their energies to recover their independence, and that, 
with the aid of Britain, the foreign yoke was removed. 

The second requisite to independence is, that the people 
shall possess so much intelligence and love of their country 
as to be capable of acting in concert, and of sacrificing, 
when necessary, their individual interests to the public wel- 
fare. You can easily understand, that, however energetic 
the individuals of a nation may be, if they should be so de- 
ficient in intelligence as to be incapable of joining in a gene- 
ral plan of defence, they must necessarily fall before a body 
of invaders who obey a skilful leader, and act in masses 
under a combined impulse. This was the case with the 
Caribs. Their brains, particularly in the regions of Com- 
bativeness and Destructiveness, were so large, that, individu- 
ally, they possessed great energy, and could not be subdued ; 
but their reflecting organs were so deficient, that they were 
incapable of co-operating in a general system of defence. 
The consequence was, that, as individuals, they resisted to 
the last ; while, through want of intellectual capacity, they 
could not combine for their mutual support. Their courage 
was unavailing ; they were exterminated in detail, although 
never subdued. The Araucanians possessed equally large 
organs of the propensities, but greatly larger intellectuai 
organs. They were capable of combination ; they acted 
in concert, and preserved their independence. 

The great body of the people must also be prepared to 
sacrifice, when necessary, their individual to the public in- 
terests, before independence can be maintained. The con- 
nexion between national independence and individual inte- 
rest is so palpable and speedily felt, that a very small portion 
of moral sentiment suffices to render men capable of this 
devotion. Indeed, if Combativeness and Destructiveness, 



296 GOVERNMENT. 

which delight in war — and Self-Esteem, which hates obedi- 
ence, be strong, these, combined with intellect, are sufficient 
to secure independence. It is only when indolence and 
avarice have become the predominant feelings of the people, 
combined with deficiency or want of exercise in Self-Esteem, 
and Combativeness, that they prefer their individual comforts 
and property, even under the galling yoke of a foreign foe, 
to national independence. 

These facts in the- natural history of nations were unknown 
until phrenology brought them to light. Formerly, all dif- 
ferences between different tribes of people were accounted 
for by difference of climate, education, and institutions ; but 
we now see that developement of brain is fundamental, 
and is the chief cause, not only of the differences of dis- 
position and talent, but of the different institutions of each 
nation also. Climate certainly does operate on the mind, but 
it is only through the nerves and brain that it can do so ; and 
hence, a knowledge of the influence of the brain is the basis 
of a sound philosophy respecting the independence of nations. 

The last and best condition of a nation is when it is not 
only independent, but free ; that is, when it owns no master 
abroad, and when each inhabitant acknowledges no master at 
home, except the laws, or magistrates, who are subject to the 
laws, and merely their interpreters and administrators. 

Before a people can attain to this form of government, 
they must possess not only the qualities requisite for inde- 
pendence, but far higher moral and intellectual gifts than 
mere independence demands. The love of justice must 
have become so prevalent, that no limited number of indi- 
viduals can muster followers sufficient to place themselves 
in the condition of masters over all the rest. The com- 
munity in general must be enlightened to such a degree, 
that they will perceive the inevitable tendency of indivi- 
duals to abuse power when they possess it without control ; 
and they must have so much of devotion to the general 
interests as to feel disposed, by a general movement, to 
oppose and put an end to all attempts at acquiring such 
dominion ; otherwise the nation cannot enjoy liberty. They 
must, also, as individuals, be in general moderate, virtuous, 
and just, in their own ambition ; ready to yield to others all 
the political enjoyments and advantages which they claim 
for themselves. 

History confirms these principles. The original European 
•ettlers of North America were English families, who had 



GOVERNMENT. 297 

left their country under religious or political persecution ; 
and their numbers were recruited by industrious persons, who 
emigrated to that land with a view to improving their con- 
dition by the exercise of their industry and talents. When 
they threw off the yoke of Britain, they were a moral and 
an intelligent people ; they instituted the American republic, 
the freest government on earth, and which has flourished in 
vigour to the present day. 

The continent of South America was peopled at first by 
ruffian warriors and avaricious adventurers, who waded 
through oceans of blood to dominion over the natives, and 
who practised cruelty, oppression, and spoliation, but not 
industry, as their means of acquiring wealth. Their num- 
bers were maintained by a succession of men animated by 
the same motives, and possessing essentially the same cha- 
racteristics, sent out by the corrupted government of old 
Spain, to a harvest of spoil. They were not the amiable, 
the religious, and the laborious of the Spanish soil, driven 
away by oppression, hating injustice, and flying to a new 
country for refuge from it, as in North America. The 
troubles of the mother country tempted these South Ame- 
rican colonists at last to disclaim the Spanish authority ; 
and they waged for their independence a long, a cruel, and 
a bloody war ; in which they were at last successful. They 
then, in imitation of the North Americans, instituted free- 
dom among themselves ; they established republics, and a 
government by laws. 

But mark the result. The cruel, base, self-seeking, dis- 
honest, vain, and ambitious propensities, which had distin- 
guished them as Spanish colonists, did not instantly leave 
them when they proclaimed themselves to be free citizens 
of independent republics. On the contrary, these feelings, 
which had long existed in them, operated with fearful energy. 
As private individuals, the new republicans devoted them- 
selves to evading payment of all government taxes and 
duties ; their import duties on foreign commodities were 
converted into means of enriching public functionaries in- 
trusted with their collection, and of practising oppression 
on rival politicians and traders. Their public couriers were 
robbed. In their senates they formed themselves into cabals 
for the promotion of some project of individual or local 
advantage or ambition ; and when not successful, they ob- 
structed all measures for the general advantage, and often 
aopealed to arms to settle their disputes. The consequence 



298 GOVERNMENT. 

has been, that, owing solely to the ignorance, the selfishness, 
and the absence of general morality and love of justice in 
the people, these states, with the richest soils and finest 
climates in the world, with independence, and with the most 
improved forms of domestic government, have, since they 
acquired their liberty, exhibited almost one unvaried scene 
of revolution, bloodshed, and contention. This is the penalty 
which Providence ordains them to pay for their parents' 
transgressions, and for the immoral dispositions which they 
have inherited from them. 

As a contrast to these events, the history of the Swiss 
and the Dutch may be alluded to. Both of these people 
have large brains, and an ample developement of both the 
moral and the intellectual organs. The Swiss were early 
distinguished by the simplicity of their manners, and their 
moral devotion and determination ; while Holland was peo- 
pled from various countries by individuals flying, like the Bri- 
tish Americans, from civil or religious persecution. " The 
Swiss had been free from time immemorial," says Russell, 
" although their independence dates from 1308." 

" Till the reign of Albert I." says Mr. G. Lyon,* " the 
emperors of Germany had respected the rights and privi- 
leges of the Swiss. Rodolph, in particular, the father of 
Albert, had always treated them with great indulgence, and 
had generously assisted them in defending their liberties 
against the noblemen who attempted to infringe them. But 
Albert aimed to govern the Swiss as an absolute sovereign, 
and had formed a scheme for creating their country into a 
principality for one of his sons. Having failed in his 
attempts to induce them to submit voluntarily to his domi- 
nion, he resolved to tame them by rougher methods, and 
appointed governors, who domineered over them in the most 
arbitrary manner. ■ The tyranny of these governors,' says 
Russell, ■ exceeded all belief ; but I need not repeat the story 
of the Governor of Uri, who ordered his hat to be fixed upon 
a pole in the market-place, to which every passenger was 
commanded to pay obeisance on pain of death ; or the 
sequel of that story, in which the illustrious William Tell 
nobly dared to disobey this imperious command. This 
example determined Melchtat of Underwalden, Straffacher 
of Schweitz, and Furtz of Uri, to put in execution the mea- 
sures they had concerted for the delivery of their country. 
And here we perceive the power of combination which a 
* Phrenological Journal, Vol. III. p. 247. 



GOVERNMENT. 299 

people possess who act under the influence of the higher sen- 
timents. The whole inhabitants of the several cantons, we 
are told, were secretly prepared for a general revolt, and the 
design, which was resolved upon on the 17th of September, 
1307, was executed on the 1st of January, 1308.' ' On 
that day,' says Coxe, ' the whole people rose as with one accord, 
to defy the power of the house of Austria, and of the head 
of the empire.' They surprised and seized the Austrian 
governors, and, with a moderation unexampled in the history 
of the world, they conducted them to the frontiers, obliged 
them to promise on oath never more to serve against the 
Helvetic nation, peaceably dismissed them, and thus ac- 
complished their important enterprise, without the loss of a 
single life." 

The Austrians soon invaded the country in great force, 
and the people were called on to sacrifice life and property 
in defence of their liberties. " Never did any people/' 
observes Russell, " fight with greater spirit for their liberty, 
than the Swiss. They purchased it by above fifty battles 
against the Austrians, and they well deserved the prize for 
which they fought ; for never were the beneficial effects of 
liberty more remarkable than in Switzerland." " In the 
meantime," continues Mr. Lyon, " I shall confine myself to 
a few insulated traits of character, indicating, in an eminent 
degree, the possession of the higher sentiments, which we 
have all along predicated to be necessary to the acquisition 
and enjoyment of freedom. The first I shall notice is their 
conduct in regard to the assassins of Albert, the great enemy 
of their liberties, who, at the very moment when he was on 
his march to invade the country with a powerful force, was 
assassinated by his nephew, with the assistance of four con- 
fidential adherents. After the deed was committed, they 
escaped into the cantons of Uri, Schweitz, and Underwalden, 
not unnaturally expecting to find an asylum among a people 
whom Albert was preparing unjustly to invade ; ' but the 
generous natives,' says Coxe, ' detesting so atrocious a deed, 
though committed on their inveterate enemy, refused to 
protect the murderers,' who all subsequently suffered the 
punishment due to their crime." 

The celebrated battle of Morgarten, in which, for the first 
time, the Swiss encountered and defeated the whole force 
of Austria, affords another striking example of the manner 
in which self-devotion contributes to the establishment of 
independence. " Leopold assembled 20,000 men, to tram- 



300 GOVERNMENT. 

pie, as he said, the audacious rustics under his feet ; but 
the Swiss beheld the gathering storm without dismay. To 
meet it, and to dispute it, 1400 men, the flower of their 
youth, grasped their arms, and assembled at the town of 
Schweitz. Veneration and all the higher sentiments were 
manifested, when they proclaimed a solemn fast, passed the 
day in religious exercises and chanting hymns, and, kneeling 
down in the open air, implored ' the God of heaven and 
earth to listen to their lowly prayers, and humble the pride 
of their enemies.' They took post on the heights of Mor- 
garten, and waited the approach of the enemy. If ever 
there were circumstances in which they might have relaxed 
their rigid virtue, it was at the time when their liberties and 
their very existence were at stake ; but even at this moment, 
they disdained to recruit their ranks from those whose lives 
had been sullied by the violation of the laws. The petition 
of fifty outlaws, that they might be permitted to share the 
dangers of the day with their countrymen, was, therefore, 
unhesitatingly rejected. The victory was complete. Be- 
sides those who fell in the battle, not less than fifteen hun- 
dred, most of whom were nobles or knights, were slain in 
the rout ; and Leopold himself with difficulty escaped under 
the guidance of a peasant to Winter^hur, where he arrived 
in the evening, gloomy, exhausted, and dismayed. A solemn 
fast was decreed to be held, in commemoration of the day, i in 
which the God of hosts had visited his people, and given them 
the victory over their enemies ;' and the names and heroie 
deeds of those champions who had fallen in defence of their 
country, were ordered to be annually recited to the people." 

The history of the Dutch is somewhat similar ; although 
not so full of noble generosity. They resisted by force of 
arms, and at the expense of the greatest sufferings and 
sacrifices, the tyranny of Spain, for the sake of liberty of 
conscience : and at last established at once their indepen- 
dence and freedom, and both they and the Swiss continue 
to enjoy these advantages to the present day. How unlike 
was the individual character of the British Americans, the 
Swiss, and the Dutch, to that of the Spanish Americans ; and 
how different the uses which they have made of their indepen- 
dence when obtained ! The last illustration with which I 
shall trouble you, in proof that freedom cannot exist without 
intelligence and morality in the people, is afforded by Sicily. 

" It is well known," says Mr. Lyon,* " that, during the 
* Phrenological Journal, Vol. II. p. 607. 



GOVERNMENT. 301 

course of the late war, the Island of Sicily was taken pos- 
session of by Great Britain ; and, with a magnanimity 
peculiarly her own, she resolved to bestow on her new ally 
that form of government, and those laws, under which she 
herself had attained to such a pitch of prosperity and glory. 
Whether the zeal thus manifested to the Sicilians was a 
zeal according to knowledge, will immediately appear ; but 
there can be no doubt that the gift was generously, freely, 
and honestly bestowed. The Sicilian government was, 
therefore, formed exactly after the model of the British. 
The legislative, executive, and judicial powers were sepa- 
rated ; vesting the first in a parliament composed of lords 
and commons ; the second in the king and his ministers ; 
the last in independent judges. Due limits were set to the 
prerogative, by not permitting the sovereign to take cogni- 
zance of bills in progress, or to interfere in any way with 
the freedom of debate or the purity of election ; the peerage 
was rendered respectable by making titles unalienable and 
strictly hereditary, and by forbidding the elevation to the 
peerage of such as were not already in possession of a fief 
to which a title had belonged, and whose annual income 
was not 6000 ounces of silver;" (of the value of 12s 6d 
sterling to the ounce ;) or £3950 a year. " Due weight 
was assigned to the commons, by fixing the qualifications 
of members for districts at 300 ounces (or £ 187 10s sterling) 
per annum, and of members for town at half that sum — 
an exception being made in favour of professors of univer- 
sities, whose learning was accepted in lieu of house and 
land ; and, lastly, that the electors should be possessed of 
property to the amount of 18 ounces, or £11 5s ; and 
(which was most important of all) the right of originating 
every tax w r as reserved to the commons alone." 

Such is the outline of the constitution given to Sicily by 
the British ; and the result of this experiment is contained 
in the following quotation from Travels in Sicily, Greece, 
and Albania, by the Rev. Mr. Hughes : 

" No words," says he, " can describe the scenes which 
daily occurred upon the introduction of the representative 
system in Sicily. The house of parliament, neither mo- 
derated by discretion nor conducted with dignity, bore the 
resemblance of a receptacle for lunatics, instead of a council- 
room for legislators ; and the disgraceful scenes so often 
enacted at the hustings in England, were here transferred 
26 



302 GOVERNMENT. 

to the very floor of the senate. As soon as the president 
had proposed the subject for debate, and restored some 
degree of order from the confusion of tongues which followed, 
a system of crimination and recrimination invariably com- 
menced by several speakers, accompanied with such furious 
gesticulations and hideous distortion of countenance, such 
bitter taunts and personal invectives, that blows generally 
ensued. This was the signal for universal uproar. The 
president's voice was unheeded and unheard ; the whole 
house arose, partisans of different antagonists mingled in 
the affray, when the ground was literally covered with 
combatants, kicking, biting, scratching, and exhibiting all 
the evolutions of the old Pancratic contests. Such a state 
of things could not be expected to last a long time ; indeed, 
this constitutional synod was dissolved in the very first 
year of its creation, and martial law established." Mr. 
Hughes thus concludes : " That constitution, so beautiful 
in theory, which rose, at once like a fairy palace, vanished 
also like that baseless fabric, without having left a trace of 
its existence. "- Vol. I. pp. 5, 6, and 7. 

After adverting to the utter profligacy of all ranks of the 
people, Mr. Hughes observes, that "no one will wonder 
that difficulties environed those who endeavoured to resus- 
citate the embers of a patriotism already extinct, and break 
the fetters of a nation who rather chose to hug them ; that 
civil liberty was received with an hypocrisy more injurious 
to its cause than open enmity, and that, returning without 
any efforts of the people, it returned without vigour, and 
excited neither talent nor enthusiasm ; that those among 
the higher classes who received it at all, received it like a 
toy, which they played with for a time, and then broke to 
pieces ; and that the populace, having penetration sufficient 
to discover the weakness of their rulers, were clamorous 
for the English authorities to dissolve the whole constitution, 
and take the power into their own hands." Vol. I. p. 13. 

" In this instance," continues Mr. Lyon, " the institution 
of a representative assembly, in which unlimited freedom of 
"debate was permitted, instead of giving rise to those calm, 
temperate, and dignified discussions, which characterize the 
British house of commons, was only the signal and the 
scene for confusion and uproar, where Combativeness, De- 
structiveness, and Self-Esteem, reigned supreme, uncontroll- 
ed by Benevolence, Veneration, or Conscientiousness ; and, 
like wayward children, whom an indulgent father has for a 



DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 303 

time left to their own government, to convince them, perhaps, 
of their uttef inability to guide and direct themselves, and 
who, finding, at length, the misery of anrestrained freedom, 
are glad to retire to his firm but parental authority, and to 
surrender that liberty which they had only the power to 
abuse ; so the Sicilians, not only voluntarily, but even clamo- 
rously, required that their liberty should be taken from them, 
and begged for the establishment of martial law as a boon." 
From these examples and illustrations, I trust that you 
are now able to distinguish between the independence and 
the freedom of a nation, and are prepared to agree with me 
in opinion, that there can be no real freedom without preva- 
lent intelligence and morality among the body of the people. 

LECTURE XVII. 

DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

Despotism ; the best form of government in a rude state of 
society — Mixed form of government — Interests of the many 
sacrificed under despotic and oligarchical governments, to 
those of the few — Bad effects of hereditary artificial rank in 
its existing shape — Rational pride of ancestry, and true 
nobility of nature— Arguments in favour of hereditary rank 
considered : (1.) That it presents objects of respect to the 
people, and accustoms them to deference and obedience , 
(2.) That it establishes a refined and polished class, who, 
by their example, improve the multitude ; (3.) That there 
is a natural and universal -admiration of it, proving it to be 
beneficial — Bad effects of entails, and of exclusive privi- 
leges and distinctions enjoyed by individuals or classes — 
Forcible abolition of hereditary nobility, entails, and mono- 
polies reprobated — Political aspect of the United States — 
Tendency of the mixed form of government to unfairly 
promote the interests of the dominant class — This exem- 
plified in the laws of Britain, particularly those relating to 
the militia and the impressment of seamen — Democratic 
form of government — Adapted only to a state of society in 
which morality and intelligence have made great and general 
advancement — Greek and Roman republics no exception — 
Character of these republics— Small Italian republics of the 
middle ages— Swiss republics, particularly that of Bern-- 
Democracy in the United States — No probability that the 
present civilized countries of Europe will ever become 
barbarous — Or that the United States will fall asunder or 
lose their freedom — Tendency of governments to become 
more democratic, in proportion as the people become more 
intelligent and moral — Groundless fears that ignorant mass- 
es of the people will gain the ascendency. 

In my last Lecture I endeavoured to expound the differ 



304 DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

rence between the independence and the freedom of nations, 
and to trace the causes of each. I endeavoured to show that 
a higher degree of moral and intellectual attainments in the 
people is necessary to freedom, than to mere independence. 

The next topic to which I advert is the different forms 
of government. Phrenology enables us to arrive at clear 
conceptions on this subject. 

The animal organs are the largest, the most powerful, and 
(when man is uncultivated) also the most active, in the 
brain ; and all of them aim at selfish ends. As long, 
therefore, as any nation continues destitute of education, 
and not devoted to industrious pursuits calculated to exer- 
cise the moral and intellectual faculties, it consists of hordes 
of human beings in whom the animal propensities predomi- 
nate, and who, in consequence, are ready to embark under 
any bold and energetic leader, in any enterprise that promises 
gratification to individual interests and passion, however 
immoral or detrimental to the community at large. History 
is one great record of the truth of this remark. The only 
mode of preserving public tranquillity, and any semblance of 
law, in such a state of society, is, for one man, or a small 
number of individuals, superior to the rest in vigour, sagacity, 
and decision, to seize on the reins of government, and to 
rule despotically 

Men in this condition are animals possessing the human 
form and human intelligence, but not yet the human mo- 
rality, which alone causes individuals to love justice and 
become a law unto themselves. If the best and wisest of 
men were requested to devise a government for a nation of 
selfish and ferocious beings, possessed of intellect sufficient 
to foresee consequences, but not inspired with the love of 
justice, he would at once say that it must be one of great 
energy, prompt to punish, and vigorous to repress ; other- 
wise there would be no tranquillity. A despotism, there- 
fore, appears to me to be the form of government which 
naturally springs up in a very rude and barbarous country, 
and to be the best adapted to its circumstances. 

The despot rules in the full spirit of the selfish system. 
He punishes through caprice as often as from just cause ; 
and he rewards through favouritism more frequently than 
from perception of real merit ; but, in doing so, he acts on 
the principles generally prevalent in his community. If he 
be enlightened, just, and beneficent, he may do great service 
to his people by instructing and civilizing them ; but, as a 



DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 308 

general rule, he will be found acting like themselves, on the 
purely selfish principle, and obstructing their moral and 
intellectual improvement whenever he discovers that their 
enlightenment will prove fatal to his authority. 

When a nation has become partially civilized, educated, 
and instructed in the arts of industry, it presents the phe- 
nomena of a class whose moral and intellectual faculties 
have been so far developed, that they acknowledge a desire 
practically to pursue the dictates of morality toward their 
fellow-men, and to enjoy the advantages of just government 
themselves ; a class which would not join a leader to trample 
the nation at large under foot, but would rather, by their 
wealth and intelligence, assist the people to expel a tyrant, 
and establish the supremacy of equitable laws. But the 
number of superior men who constitute this class, live along 
with a vast mass of uneducated, and therefore still barbarous 
and selfish, individuals, who compose the great body of the 
people. This was the condition of Great Britain during 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it is partially 
so at this day. The kind of government adapted to a 
nation thus situated, is obviously one which shall combine 
the force and energy of the despot, necessary to repress and 
punish all attempts at individual supremacy and domination, 
and at the same time enforce order and justice, with a due 
regard to the general welfare, which is desired by the most 
enlightened class. A mixed form of government, like the 
British, in which great executive power is committed to the 
king, but in which the enlightened classes, through their 
representatives in parliament, have an entire control over 
the enactment ot laws, and also over the acts of the execu- 
tive, by being entitled to vote or withhold the public supplies, 
is the natural result of this state of society. 

The great benefit, I have said, of freedom is, that it tends 
to promote the general welfare ; whereas all other forms of 
government, whether despotic, under one supreme prince, 
or oligarchical, under a limited number of nobles, tend to 
the sacrifice of the interests of the many to the advantage 
of the few. In all ages and countries this has been the 
case, and in our own mixed form of government the evil 
exists, to a considerable extent. 

In ancient Rome, in which the patricians or nobles ruled 
the state, there was a law prohibiting the intermarriage of 
patricians and plebeians ; that is, of the nobles and the peo- 
*26 



306 P1FFEKENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

pie. In Rome, besides, all places of trust, power, and influ- 
ence, were confined to the patricians, and a plebeian could 
not, for many ages, aspire to the honours of the consulship. 
In France, before the revolution, only nobles could obtain 
military rank. In Hindostan, and in Roman Catholic coun- 
tries, the priests prohibit the people at large from freely 
reading their scriptures or sacred books. In short, the ge- 
nius of selfishness is everywhere and at all times the same ; 
it grasps advantages for itself, and it manifests the same 
characteristics, whether appearing in an individual or in a 
class, in a political body or a religious corporation. 

In a former lecture I endeavoured to point out that the 
institution of a hereditary nobility, protected by law in the 
possession of political power and exclusive privileges, with- 
out regard to individual qualities and attainments, is an 
infringement of the natural laws, and produces evil to the 
community, as well as misdirection of the ambition of the 
parties thus exalted. I now observe, in reference to the 
mixed form of government, like that of Britain, that the 
existence of a noble or privileged class is one of its cha- 
racteristic features, and is the natural result of a portion 
of the people having far outstripped the mass in wealth, in- 
telligence, and refinement. Of course, it may be expected 
to endure as long as the great inequality in these particulars, 
on which it is founded, exists. 

The mixed form of government itself obviously springs 
from a numerous class having considerably preceded the 
mass of the people in intelligence and moral attainments ; 
and it exhibits the spectacle of that class becoming the 
depositaries of political power, the upper portion exercising 
the function of legislators directly in their own persons and 
the inferior portion enacting laws by means of their repre- 
sentatives, leaving no political influence whatever in the 
hands of the majority of the people. It is the genius of this 
form of government to confer privileges on classes, and 
hence the highest members of the ruling body easily induced 
the king to bestow on them the character of nobility and 
the right of hereditary legislation ; but as the great principle 
of doing to another as we would wish another to do to us, 
leads, in its general application, to the removal of all dis- 
tinctions not founded on real superiority, the existence of 
this class becomes, in course of time, an obstacle to general 
improvement. There is one principle, however, equally 



DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 307 

clearly taught, both by Christianity and by the doctrine of 
the supremacy of the moral sentiments — that the only bene- 
ficial manner of producing a moral equality is, by improving 
and raising up the lower, and not by pulling down the higher, 
classes, possessed of superior attainments. As long, there- 
fore, as the class of nobles are superior in intellect, moral 
qualities, and education, to the great body of the people, 
their superiority is real ; and they would maintain this 
superiority, although they possessed neither titles nor exclu- 
sive privileges. This has long been the state of Britain, and 
is so, to a considerable extent, still. In a former lecture 
I pointed out that hereditary rank and superiority is in 
opposition to nature, unless the organic laws are obeyed, 
and that then statutes are not needed to transmit property 
and honour to posterity. Those who transmit high moral, 
intellectual, and physical qualities to their offspring, confer on 
them the stamp of nature's nobility, and they need no other. 
When the Creator bestowed on us Veneration, prompting 
us to reverence high qualities and attainments, and Love of 
Approbation, desiring distinction for ourselves, He must 
have intended that these faculties, in selecting their objects, 
should be guided by reason, morality, and religion; yet the 
creation of artificial, and especially hereditary, rank, which 
shall enable its possessor, independently of his mental 
qualities, to assume superiority over, and take precedence of, 
other men, even when these are more virtuous, more 
learned, more useful, and more highly accomplished than 
himself, is in direct opposition to this maxim, and must, 
therefore, manifestly be an abuse. The grand argument by 
which it is defended is, that, by presenting objects of esta- 
blished respect and consideration to the people, we accustom 
them to the practice of deference and obedience, and thereby 
promote the tranquillity of the state. It is argued also, that, 
by instituting a class of nobles, a branch of society is formed 
which will cultivate, as their especial province, taste, refine- 
ment, and all the elegancies of life, and improve the 
inferior members of the social body by their example. It is 
farther maintained, that such a class is natural, and has 
existed in almost all countries, and must therefore be advan- 
tageous. In a certain state of society, these reasons have 
some weight ; but my position is, that, when the general body 
of the people become enlightened, these advantages disap- 
pear, and a hereditary nobility becomes a positive evil 



308 HEREDITARY RANKS. 

I beg leave, however, to state, that I do not propose to 
abolish hereditary and artificial rank by violence, and against 
the will of its possessors. The grand principle which I have 
advocated in these lectures, that all real improvement must 
proceed from the supremacy of the moral and intellectual 
faculties, forbids such a project. My aim is, to render nobles 
ashamed of hereditary titles, decorations, and privileges, 
which testify nothing in favour of their merit ; and I regard 
this as undoubtedly practicable, in the course of a few gene- 
rations, merely by enlightening their superior faculties. If 
you trace the forms in which Self-Esteem and Love of 
Approbation seek gratification in different stages of social 
improvement, and how these approach nearer and nearer to 
reason, in proportion as society becomes enlightened, you 
will not consider this idea chimerical. In the li Constitution 
of Man " I have remarked, that the tatooed skin, and nose 
transfixed with ornamental bones, are fondly desired, pro- 
foundly respected, and greatly prized by the savage. These 
are the external signs of his consequence, the outward 
symbols by which his Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation 
demand and receive the homage of inferior men. But a 
very limited advance in civilization destroys the illusion. 
It is seen that these are mere physical ornaments, which 
bespeak nothing but the vanity of the wearer ; they are, 
therefore; ridiculed and laid aside. 

Ascending to a more refined yet still barbarous age, you 
find the marks of distinction which were formerly prized in 
our own country, a full-bottomed wig and cocked hat, ruffles 
at the wrists, a laced waistcoat, and buckles in the shoes. 
A century ago, when a man appeared thus attired in any 
public assembly of the common people, place was given to 
his rank, and respect was paid to his dignity, as if he had 
been of a superior nature. But when, in the progress of 
enlightenment, it was discovered that these outward testi- 
monials of greatness were merely the workmanship of 
barbers and tailors ; men who enjoyed any real mental 
superiority, who were distinguished by refinement of man- 
ners and the other qualities of a true gentleman, became 
ashamed of them, and preferred to wear plain yet elegant 
attire, and to trust to their manners and the discrimination 
of the public for being recognised as of superior rank, and 
being treated accordingly ; and they have been completely 
successful. A gentleman in the trappings of the year 1700, 



HEREDITARY RANKS. 309 

appearing in our streets now, would be regarded as insane, 
or as facetiously disporting himself in order to win a wager. 

The progress of reason which has swept away tatooed 
skins, bone ornaments in the nose, full-bottomed wigs, and 
laced waistcoats, will one day extinguish orders of knight- 
hood, coronets, and all the other artificial means by which 
men at present attempt to support their claims to respect 
and consideration, apart from their personal qualities and 
virtues. They will be recognised by the wearers as well 
as by the public, as devices useful only to the unworthy. 
An advanced education and civilzation will render men acute 
observers of the real elements of greatness, and profound 
admirers of them, but equally intolerant of tinsel impositions. 

Perhaps you do not perceive that society will have gained 
much even when this change shall have been accomplished, 
if it shall ever take place. But I anticipate decided advan- 
tages from it. Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation exist, 
and they are large and powerful organs. The feelings with 
which they inspire the mind will never be extinguished ; 
their direction only can be changed. When we contemplate 
the history of the world, and perceive what laborious, pain- 
ful, and dangerous enterprises men have undertaken and 
accomplished, and what privations and positive sufferings 
they have submitted to, in order to obtain gratification to 
these two faculties, we may form some estimate of the 
impulse which would be given to physical, moral, and in- 
tellectual improvement, if they were withdrawn from the 
worship of idols, and directed according to reason. Men will 
always desire to be nobles, to stand in the highest rank, to 
be respected, and to be treated with consideration by their 
fellow-men, as long as Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation 
exist ; but their notions of what constitutes nobility and 
high rank will change, as their minds become enlightened. 
Under the system of nature, a family would esteem itself 
noble, when it was able to show in its genealogy a long line 
of healthy, handsome, refined, moral, intelligent, and useful 
men and women, with few profligates and few imbeciles ; 
and an individual who claimed the consideration of society, 
would present high attainments, pure morals, and refined 
manners, before an intelligent public, and feel secure of 
commanding a willing homage. 

If you conceive nobles and individuals of high rank and 
remote ancestry animated by such motives, and setting such 



310 HEREDITARY RANKS. 

examples before their inferiors, how powerful would the 
impulse to improvement be, compared with what it must 
always continue, while men overlook the real elements of 
greatness in the gratification of their ambition, and aim 
chiefly at the externa] symbols of a pampered vanity, which 
elevate the undeserving to a level with the most accomplish- 
ed, and misdirect the aspirations of the whole community. 

We are now prepared to answer the arguments by which 
hereditary rank and artificial nobility are defended, as ad- 
vantageous in the present state of Britain. The first is, that 
their existence presents objects of respect to the common 
people, and accustoms them to deference and obedience. I 
reply, that the common people respected the decorations of 
rank, the wig, the ruffles, and the waistcoats, of the last 
century, only while they were deplorably ignorant ; and in 
like manner, they can regard, with deference and awe, an- 
cient titles apart from merit only while they continue in the 
same condition. The moment they become sufficiently en- 
lightened and independent in their moral and intellectual 
judgments, they will cease to admire hereditary rank without 
high qualities. It is neither moral, safe, nor advantageous, 
therefore, to set up, as a means of cultivating the respectful 
feelings of the people, objects that will not bear the investi- 
gation of enlightened reason, and the end in view cannot be 
attained by such a method. 

The second defence of hereditary nobility is, that, by in- 
stituting it, you establish a separate class dedicated to refine- 
ment, taste, and elegance, who, by their example, will improve 
the inferior orders. The answer is, that all these qualities 
are essential elements in nature's nobility, and, after a certain 
stage of social enlightenment has been reached, they will be 
assiduously cultivated for their own sake, and that of the 
distinction which they will confer ; and, therefore, that the 
only effect of patents of rank is to preserve individuals in 
possession of the outward advantages generally paid to 
these high attainments, without having them in their minds. 
I am a strong advocate for refinement, and clearly perceive 
that the higher classes possess much more of it than the 
middle and lower ranks ; and, viewing it as one important 
element in a truly excellent and noble character, I am anx- 
ious to see it prized and more widely sought after by the 
lower grades. But I believe that the best way to bring about 
this result is, to dissipate the essentially vulgar illusion, that 



ENTAILS. 311 

descent, title, or any artificial or accidental circumstance, can 

produce it, or can exclude any individual from attaining it ; 
and thereby induce all to esteem it for its own sake, and to 
respect those only who really possess it. 

The third argument in favour of hereditary and artificial 
rank is, that the admiration of it is natural, and has existed 
in all ages and countries, and that it must, therefore, be 
beneficial. 1 have explained, that the faculties of Veneration, 
Self- Esteem, and Love of Approbation are all natural, and 
that one of their tendencies is to respect and esteem ancient 
descent and superior qualities. The only difference between 
the admirers of things as they are and myself, consists in 
this — that they present artificial objects to which these facul- 
ties may be directed, and which objects, when examined by 
reason, are found to be unworthy of enlightened regard ; 
whereas, I propose to have them directed only according to 
reason, to objects pleasing at once to the understanding, the 
moral sentiments, and to these faculties themselves. 

At present, it is the interest of artificial nobles to keep the 
people ignorant, rude, and superstitious ; because men in 
such a condition are best fitted to worship idols ; and, ac- 
cordingly, the most purely aristocratic, unintellectual, and 
poorly gifted peers, have always been the greatest opponents 
of the emancipation, education, and elevation of the people ; 
while, on the contrary, all the truly noble minds born among 
the aristocracy — those on whom Nature has set the stamp 
of moral as well as intellectual greatness — have been the 
friends and willing benefactors of the people. And if there 
were no nobility except that of Nature, her nobles would be 
prompted by interest as well as inclination, to promote the 
improvement and elevation of all classes, because they 
would feel that their own rank, happiness, and usefulness de- 
pended on having a cultivated, discriminating, moral, and 
intellectual community for their associates and admirers. 

I have dwelt on this subject longer than some of you may 
consider to have been necessary ; but the same principles 
have a wide application. They lead us to the conclusion, 
that hereditary entails, as constituted in Scotland, ought also 
to be abolished. An entail is a deed in law executed by the 
proprietor of an estate, by which he calls a certain series of 
heirs to perpetual enjoyment of the rents, or produce, or 
possession of the land, but without allowing to any of them 
a right of property in itself. None of them can sell the 



812 ENTAILS. 

estate, or burden it with debt, beyond his own life- time, or 
give it to a different order of heirs from those pointed out in 
the deed of entail. If, for example, the property be destined 
to heirs-male, the. present possessor may have a daughter, who 
is the apple of his eye and the treasure of his heart, and no 
male relation nearer than a tenth cousin, and this cousin may 
be a profligate of the most disgraceful description ; but the 
law is blind — the daughter can inherit not one acre of the vast 
domain, and the remote and unworthy male takes it all. 
This, however, is comparatively the least of the evils attend- 
ing entails. Their existence maintains in an artificial rank, 
and in possession of great wealth, and consequently influence, 
individuals who, by their natural qualities, ought to stand 
at the bottom of the social scale, and who, like the hereditary 
nobility, operate as idols on the minds of the aspiring and 
rising of the middle and lower ranks, leading them to an 
insensate worship of aristocratic rank. They give them the 
tendency to overlook all the natural elements of real great- 
ness and goodness, and to trust in the devices of " princes 
and men's sons " for the gratification of their ambition. 

Many persons may imagine that this is a small social evil, 
affecting only the individuals who give way to this idol wor- 
ship, and who, they suppose, are not numerous. But the - 
evil appears to me to be of greater magnitude, and to lead 
to more extensive consequences. It supports, by the sanc- 
tion of law, the erroneous principle of preserving, by artificial 
means, social greatness and influence to individuals, inde- 
pendently of their natural qualities ; and this directly tends 
to encourage all classes to overlook or undervalue natural 
excellence, and strive only to attain wealth, and to preserve 
it in their families, by the aid of legal technicalities, against 
the law of God and the welfare of their fellow-men. This 
averting of the general mind from the real principles of social 
improvement, and giving it a false direction, appears to me 
to be the worst evil attending all artificial systems for pre- 
serving family distinctions. The class which is thus sup- 
ported has many powerful motives for improvement with- 
drawn from it : it leans upon crutches, and therefore rarely 
exercises its muscles ; and, as a natural consequence, it looks 
with an indifferent, if not a hostile, glance on all its inferiors 
who are labouring to attain that excellence with which it dis- 
penses in itself. A great deal of the resistance and the 
lukewarmness, if not positive aversion, of the higher ranks, 



EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES. 313 

to the instruction and refinement of the people, may be traced 
to the consciousness that their own pretensions rest, to a great 
extent, on an artificial basis, and on illusions which would 
yield before advanced and generally diffused civilization. 

The same arguments which I have now employed against 
artificial rank and entails, apply to all exclusive privileges 
and distinctions conferred by law on individuals or classes 
independently of their merits. The social institutions of 
every country in Europe have been overrun, more or less, 
with such abuses. In France, before the revolution, every 
class of the people except the lowest, had its exclusive 
privileges, and every town and department its selfish rights 
of monopoly or exemption, which were maintained with all 
the blind avidity usually displayed by an unenlightened sel- 
fishness. The revolution swept these away, and made all 
France and all Frenchmen equal in their rights and privi- 
leges, to the great advantage of the whole nation. In our own 
country, the spirit of reform is busy extinguishing similar 
marks of barbarism, but they are still clung to with great af- 
fection by the true adherents of the individual interest system. 
The brief limits of this course prevent me from entering 
into farther details on this subject, but I again beg of you 
not to misunderstand me. He who should go forth from 
this hall, and report that the great object of my lectures on 
moral philosophy was to recommend the abolition by force 
of hereditary nobility, entails, and monopolies, would not do 
me justice. The real object of this course has been, to 
show that men must obey the laws of God before they can 
be happy — one of which laws is, that we should love our 
neighbours as ourselves, or, in other words, embrace practi- 
cally the great truth that individual enjoyment is inseparably 
connected with, and dependent on, social welfare ; that, to 
promote the general welfare, it is necessary to render all 
the members of the community alive to its improvement, 
and to withdraw from them all artificial means of propping 
up their individual fortunes and rank, independently of 
virtue ; that hereditary titles, entails, and other exclusive 
privileges of classes and individuals, are the fortifications in 
which the selfish principle entrenches itself, in order to resist 
and obstruct general improvement, and that on this account 
they ought to be undermined and destroyed. I have endea- 
voured to show that the classes who now imagine themselves 
to be benefited by them, would actually profit by their 
27 



314 MIXED FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

abolition, by being directed into the true path to happiness 
and virtue ; and I propose, by enlightening their under- 
standings, and elevating the standards of public approbation, 
to induce a voluntary surrender of these distinctions, and 
not a forcible abrogation of them. Ages may elapse before 
these results will be accomplished, but so did many centu- 
ries intervene between the painted skins and the laced 
coat; and so did generations pass away between the em- 
broidered waistcoats and our own age ; yet our day has 
come, and so will a brighter day arrive, although we may be 
long removed from the scene before it dawns.* 

The great characteristic of the mixed form of government 
is its tendency to promote the interests of the classes who 
wield political power to the injury of the others. Ever 
since Britain apparently attained freedom, there has been 
an evident system of legislating for the advantage and 
gratification of the dominant class. The laws of primoge- 
niture, of entails, and of the non-liability of heritable property 

* Since the text was written, I have lived for twenty months 
in the United States of North America, where no hereditary 
nobility, no privileged classes, and no entails exist. It is 
impossible not to perceive that, in their absence, the higher 
faculties of the mind have a freer field of action. At the same 
time, truth compels me to remark, that as they were abolished 
in the United States by a sudden exercise of power, and as a 
system of equality was introduced as the result of a successful 
revolution, and did not arise spontaneously from the cultivation 
of the public mind and the developement of the moral and 
intellectual faculties of the people, the democracy of the United 
States does not present all that enlightenment of the under- 
standing, that high-minded love of the beneficial and the just, 
that refinement of manners, and that well regulated self-control 
which constitute the most valuable fruits of political freedom. 
In the United States the selfish faculties appear to me to be 
as active and as blind as in Britain. The political institutions 
of the country are in advance of the mental cultivation of the 
mass of the people ; and the most cheering consideration for 
the philanthropist, in the prospect of the future, is the fact, that 
these institutions having given supreme power to the people, 
of which there is no possibility of depriving them, it is equally 
the interest and the duty of men of all ranks and conditions to 
concur in elevating the people in the scale of moral, religious, 
and intellectual improvement, so as, in time, to render them 
worthy of their high calling among nations. Much remains to 
be accomplished. 



MIXED FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 315 

for personal debts, (which last long prevailed in England,) 
were all instances in which the aristocracy legislated for 
themselves, at the expense of the people. The game-laws, 
the corn-laws, and the timber-duties, are additional in- 
stances. In proportion, again, as the mercantile classes 
acquired political power, they followed the same example. 
They induced parliament to pass acts for encouraging the 
shipping interests, the fisheries, the linen manufacture, and 
a great variety of other interests, by paying, out of the public 
purse, direct bounties to those engaged in them, or by laying 
protecting duties, to be paid by the public, on the rival 
produce of foreign nations. In the administration of public 
affairs the same principle was followed. The army and 
navy, the church and the colonies, and all other departments 
of the public service, were converted into great pasture 
fields for the sons and political dependents of the aristocra- 
cy ; while there were combination-laws against the labouring 
classes, to punish them for uniting to raise the price of their 
labour, and laws authorizing sailors to be impressed and 
forced to serve in the navy, at wages inferior to the common 
rate allowed in merchants' ships ; and even the militia-laws, 
although apparently equal, were actually contrived to throw 
the whole burden of service on the lower orders. The 
penalty on men of all ranks for non-appearance to be enrolled 
was £20. This, to a labouring man whose income was 10s 
a week, was equal to forty weeks' labour ; or, to an artisan 
who earned 20s a week, it was equal to twenty weeks' 
wages. To a master-tradesman, a merchant, professional 
man, or small proprietor, whose revenue was £365 per 
annum, it was equal only to twenty days' income. To have 
produced equality, the fine ought to have been computed at 
the amount of a certain number of days' income for all classes. 
According to this rule, a man having £360 per annum of 
income, would have paid £140 of fine, when a mechanic, 
who earned 20s a week, would have paid £20, or a labourer, 
with 10s a week, £10. A great proprietor, enjoying 
£50,000 a year, would then have paid £20,000 of fine 
for exemption from service in the militia. 

If the operative classes had had a voice in parliament 
proportionate to their numbers, there is no doubt that this 
would have been the rule ; and if so, it would have rendered 
the militia system so intolerably burdensome to the middle 
and higher classes, that its existence would have been brief, 



316 DEMOCRACY. 

and means might perhaps have been discovered for bringing 
the last French war to a more speedy termination. 

The great argument in my mind for abolishing impress- 
ment is, that, when sailors must be enticed by high wages 
and good treatment into the service of the country, it will 
be necessary for naval officers to become moral, intelligent, 
and amiable, because it will only be by such qualities that 
they will be able to retain crews in their ships, and preserve 
authority over them. Sailors themselves, by being well 
treated, will be improved. War will be softened in its 
horrors, when waged by men thus civilized ; and I hope 
that the additional costliness of it, on such a system, will 
tend to cause the public generally to put an end to it alto- 
gether. If I am right in these views, the mixed form of 
government is one adapted to a particular stage of civilization, 
that in which an intelligent class coexists with an ignorant 
mass ; but it is not the perfection of human institutions. 

The next form of government presented to our conside- 
ration is the democratic, or that in which political power is 
deposited exclusively in the people, and by them delegated 
to magistrates, chosen, for a longer or shorter period, by 
themselves. 

If the world be really governed by God on the principle 
of supremacy of the moral and intellectual faculties, our 
social miseries must arise from individuals and classes pur- 
suing their separate interests, regardless of those of the rest 
of the community ; and, in this view, the sooner all ranks 
enjoy political power, the sooner will legislation assume a 
truly moral character, and benefit the entire nation. But 
keeping in view the other principle which I have endea- 
voured to expound — that men are incapable of steadily- 
pursuing moral and just objects, until their moral and intel- 
lectual faculties have obtained the ascendency, and that this 
can be realized only by the sedulous training of their moral 
sentiments, and the enlightenment of their understandings 
by education — you will perceive that no nation can become 
fit for a republican form of government, until all classes of 
the people are nearly equally advanced in morality, intelli- 
gence, and civilization. The ancient republics of Greece 
and Rome form no exceptions to this rule. They were 
confined to a very small territory, and the whole citizens of 
each republic were for many ages within reach of personal 
communication with each other, so that there existed some 



DEMOCRACY. 317 

degree of equality of intelligence among them. Whenever 
their empire became extensive, their free government 
ceased, and was superseded by despotism. But these an- 
cient republics were never moral institutions. Their free- 
dom resulted from the equal balance of the power of the 
different classes of which they were composed ; or from the 
rivalry of their different orators and leaders, who destroyed 
each other, as they respectively attempted to usurp an undue 
share of authority. The people in their assemblies, and the 
senators in their senates, were often guilty of the most 
unjust and unprincipled tyranny against individuals ; and 
altogether, the boasted liberties of Greece and Rome appear 
only as the results of the struggles of equal combatants, 
who agree to live on terms of mutual toleration, because 
they have discovered their inability to succeed in usurpation. 
The reason of this is obvious. There were in those states 
no true religion, no moral training, no printing presses, and 
no science of nature. The great mass of the people were 
ignorant ; and phrenology shows us that although a people 
enjoying large brains and active temperaments, situated in 
a fine climate, but destitute of moral and intellectual training, 
may have been ingenious and acute, yet they must neces- 
sarily have been turbulent and immoral ; and such these 
ancients really were. Their records which have reached 
usj are the works of a few distinguished men who arose 
among them, and who certainly displayed high genius in the 
fine arts, in literature, and eloquence ; but these were the 
educated and the talented few. From the very necessity 
of their circumstances, without science, and without printed 
books, the mass of the people must have been profoundly 
ignorant, the slaves of the animal propensities. Their do- 
mestic habits, as well as their public conduct, show that this 
was the case. The popular religion of the ancient nations 
was a mass of revolting absurdities and superstitions. Then- 
wives were mere domestic drudges, and their hours of recrea- 
tion were devoted to concubines. Their public entertain- 
ments were sanguinary combats, in which ferocious men 
put each other to death, or in which wild animals tore each 
other to pieces. All labour was performed by slaves, whom 
they treated in the crudest manner. They pursued war 
and conquest as their national occupations, and in their 
public acts they occasionally banished or condemned to death 
their best and most upright citizens. These are facts, 
27* 



318 DEMOCRACY. 

which we read of in the histories of Greece and Rome. 
They exhibit the vigorous ascendency of the animal propen- 
sities, and the feeble power of the moral sentiments, as 
clearly as if we saw the barbarous crowds standing in all 
their prowess and ferocity before us. 

In the middle ages, a number of small republics sprang up 
in Italy, and we are dazzled by representations of their wealth, 
magnificence, and freedom. One observation applies to 
them all. They exhibited the dominion of an oligarchy over 
the people, and the ruling classes practised the most dis- 
graceful tyranny wherever they were not restrained by fear 
of each other. Most of them ultimately fell before the power 
of the larger monarchies, and are now extinct. 

Switzerland presents a brighter prospect. As it was the 
first country in Europe which acquired freedom, so has it 
longest preserved the blessing. The moral and intellec- 
tual qualities of the people, which I described in my last 
lecture, fitted them for free governments, and the Swiss 
nation constituted itself into a congeries of republics, acting 
in federation, but each independent in its internal adminis- 
tration. In the course of time power fell into the hands of 
an aristocratic class there, as in Italy, but the native qualities 
of the Swiss mind seem to have warded off the consequences 
which in other countries generally ensued. " The members 
of the sovereign council of Bern," we are told,* " wero 
elected for life, and every ten years there was an election 
to supply the vacancies that had occurred during that period. 
The counsellors themselves were the electors ; and as old 
families became extinct, and as it was a rule that there should 
not be less than eighty families having members in the great 
council, vacancies were supplied from new families of 
burghers. Still, the number of families in whose hands the 
government was vested was comparatively small ; and seve- 
ral unsuccessful attempts were made, in the course of the 
eighteenth century, to alter this state of things, and to re- 
instate the assemblies of the body of the burghers. The 
discontent, however, was far from general, and it did not 
extend to the country population. The administration was 
conducted in an orderly, unostentatious, and economical 
manner ; the taxes were few and light. ' It would be diffi- 
cult,' says the historian Muller, < to find in the history of the 
world a commonwealth which, for so long a period, has been 
* Penny Cyclopaedia, article Bern ; Vol. IV. p. 304. 



DEMOCRACY. 319 

so wisely administered as that of Bern. In other aristocra- 
cies the subjects were kept in darkness, poverty, and bar- 
barism ; factions were encouraged among them, while justice 
winked at crime or took bribes ; and this was the case in 
the dependencies of Venice. But the people of Bern stood, 
with regard to their patricians, rather in the relation of clients 
toward their patrons, than in that of subjects toward their 
sovereigns.' Zschokke, a later Swiss historian, speaking 
of Bern and other aristocracies of Switzerland, says, f They 
acted like scrupulous guardians. The magistrates, even the 
highest among them, received small salaries ; fortunes were 
made only in foreign service,, or in the common bailiwicks 
of the subject districts. Although the laws were defective 
and trials secret, the love of justice prevailed in the country ; 
power wisely respected the rights of the humblest freeman. 
In the principal towns, especially the Protestant ones, wealth 
fostered science and the fine arts. Bern opened fine roads, 
raised public buildings, fostered agriculture in its fine territory, 
relieved those districts that were visited by storms or inun- 
dations, founded establishments for the weak and the help- 
less, and yet contrived to accumulate considerable sums in 
its treasury. But the old patriotism of the Swiss slumber- 
ed ; it was replaced by selfishness, and the mind remained 
stationary ; the various cantons were estranged from each 
other ; instructions spread in the towns, but coarseness and 
ignorance prevailed in the country.' The consequence of 
all this was, that, w r hen the storm came from abroad, it found 
the Swiss unprepared to face it. The French republic, in 
its career of aggression, did not respect the neutrality of 
Switzerland," but seized upon its territory and treasures, 
and inflicted on it the greatest calamities. In 1815, an 
aristocratical constitution was given $o Bern, under the sanc- 
tion of the allied powers who dethroned Napoleon ; but, in 
1830, the canton of Bern, and several others, again changed 
their government, and became a democratic republic. " The 
new constitution has now (1835) been in force for more 
than three years ; notwithstanding some heart-burnings and 
party ebullitions, things appear to be settling into a regular 
system, and no act of violence or open bloodshed has ac- 
companied the change." 

This account of Bern appears remarkable, when compared 
with the history of other republics, the ruling factions of 
which, when allowed the privilege of self-election, life- 



320 DEMOCRACY. 

tenures of office, and freedom from responsibility, invariably 
became selfish and unprincipled tyrants, converting the laws 
into engines of oppression, and the revenues of the state 
into sources of private gain. I can account for the supe- 
riority of the Swiss only by the larger endowment of the 
moral and reflecting organs in their brains, which seems to 
have been a characteristic feature in the people from a very 
remote period, and which still continues. The Swiss skulls 
in the possession of the Phrenological Society, presents 
higher developements of the moral and intellectual organs, 
than those of any other of the continental nations which I 
have seen. The Germans, who are originally the same peo- 
ple, in some districts resemble them ; but they vary much 
in different places. The Swiss brain, I may notice, is not 
equally favourably developed in all the cantons. In Bern, 
Geneva, and Zurich, the combinations are the best ; at 
least, this struck me, in travelling through the country. 

I introduce these remarks, to direct your attention to the 
fact, that the native quality of the mind of the people is a 
most important element in judging of the adaptation of any 
particular nation for any particular form of government ; a 
principle which is entirely lost sight of by those philosophers 
who believe that all men are naturally equal in their native 
dispositions and intellectual capacities, and that a free go- 
vernment is equally suited to all. 

The conclusion, in regard to the republican form of go- 
vernment, which I draw is, that no people is fit for it, in 
whom the moral and intellectual organs are not largely 
developed, and in whom also they are not generally and 
extensively cultivated. The reason is clear. The propen- 
sities being all selfish, any talented leader, who will address 
himself strongly to the jnterests and prejudices of an ignorant 
people, will carry their suffrages to any scheme which he 
may propose, and he will speedily render himself a dictator 
and them slaves. If there be a numerous dominant class 
equally talented and enlightened, the individuals among 
them will keep each other in check, but they will rule as an 
oligarchy, in the spirit of a class, and trample the people 
under their feet. Thus it appears, that, by the ordination 
of Providence, the people have no alternative but to acquire 
virtue and knowledge ; to embrace large, liberal, and en- 
lightened views, and to pursue moral and beneficial objects 
— or to suffer oppression. This is another of the proofs thai 



DEMOCRACY. 



321 



the moral government of the world is based on the principle 
of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect ; for, 
turn where we will, we find suffering linked with selfishness, 
and enjoyment with benevolence and justice, in public as 
well as in private affairs. 

The United States of North America present the best 
example of a democracy which has hitherto appeared in the 
history of the world. Power is there lodged with the entire 
people ; and their magistrates, from the lowest to the high- 
est, are truly the delegates of the national authority. Yet, 
in the older states of the Union, life and property are as 
secure as in any country in the world, and liberty is more 
complete. In my last lecture I traced, in the history of this 
people, their preparation for freedom. The founders of Ame- 
rican society were moral, religious, and industrious men, 
flying from injustice and oppression; and were, therefore, 
probably men of the keenest moral and religious feelings 
of the old world, at the time when they emigrated to the 
shores of America. Their ranks continued to be recruited 
from the industrious and enterprising of Europe ; and hence, 
when they threw off the yoke of Britain, the material of the 
states consisted chiefly of minds of the best quality. Since 
they acquired their independence, they have continued to 
advance in education, morality, and intelligence ; and, in 
conformity with the principle which I am now expounding, 
it is generally admitted, that the extent of education is con- 
siderably higher there than in any other country in the world. 
In Britain and France you will find more highly educated 
men ; but beside them you will perceive countless multi- 
tudes of human beings enveloped in the profoundest igno- 
rance. In America you will meet with few men of such 
high culture and attainment as England and France can 
boast of; but you will look in vain for the masses of un- 
educated stolidity which are the disgrace of Europe. The 
American people are nearly all to some extent educated. 
They are not only able, on an emergency, to read and write, but 
they are in the daily habit of reading ; and they understand 
the great principles of morals, political economy, and govern- 
ment, better than the uneducated classes of this country. 
The coexistence of the greatest freedom, therefore, with the 
highest general intelligence, in America, is in harmony with 
the doctrines which I am now endeavouring to expound.* 

* The observations in the text were written before I had visit- 



922 DEMOCBAOY. 

The history of the world has shown nations degenerating 
and losing the independence and freedom which they once 
possessed, and it is prophesied that America will lose her 
freedom, and become a kingdom in the coarse of years ; or, 
that her states will fall asunder and destroy each other. It 
is supposed, also, that the civilized nations of Europe will 
become corrupt, and, through excessive refinement, sink 
ed the United States, and were founded on such information 
as I had then obtained from communications with individuals 
who had lived in them, and from books. After having had the 
advantages of personal observation, I print the text as essen- 
tially correct ; but I find that I had over-estimated the attain- 
ments of the mass of the people in the United States. The 
machinery for education which they have instituted, and which 
they support by taxation or voluntary contribution, is great and 
valuable, and rather exceeds than falls short of my preconceived 
opinions ; but the quality and quantity of the education dispensed 
by it are far inferior to what 1 had imagined. The things taught 
and the modes of teaching, in the public or common schools, which 
educate the people, are greatly inferior to what are found in the 
improved schools of Britain. While, therefore, I confirm the 
observation in the text, " that the people generally understand 
the great principles of morals, political economy, and govern- 
ment, better than the uneducated classes of Britain," I must 
add the qualification that the difference between the two is 
only like that between moonlight* and the light of the stars. 
In regard to the scientific principles of morals, political econo- 
my, and government, especially of the first and the second, 
the people of the United States appear to me to be greatly in 
the dark. At the same time, there are many enlightened philan- 
thropists among them who see and deplore this ignorance, and 
are labouring assiduously, and I have no doubt successfully, to 
remove it. The impulse toward a higher education is, at this 
time, strong and energetic ; and as the Americans are a practi- 
cal people, I anticipate a great and rapid improvement. In 
Massachusetts, the Hon. Horace Mann is devoting the whole 
powers of his great and enlightened mind to the advancement 
of the common schools, and he is ably and zealously seconded 
by the government and enlightened coadjutors. The results 
cannot tail to be highly advantageous. The people of the 
United States owe it to themselves, and to the cause of free- 
dom all over the world, to exhibit the spectacle of a refined, 
enlightened, moral, and intellectual democracy. Every male 
above twenty-one years of age among them, claims to be a 
sovereign. He is, therefore, bound to be a gentleman. 

* An American gentleman, who is much interested in his 
country's welfare, on reading this passage, remarked, " You 
may say moonlight when the moon is in the first quarter." 



DEMOCRACY. 323 

into effeminacy, and proceed from effeminacy to ignorance, 
from ignorance to barbarism, and thence to dissolution. This 
has been the fate of the great nations of antiquity, and it is 
argued that as there is nothing new under the sun, what 
has been, will be, and that the ultimate destruction of Euro- 
pean civilization is certain ; while it is admitted that free- 
dom, and art and science, may flourish in some other region 
of the globe. The principle in philosophy, that similar 
causes, in similar circumstances, produce similar effects, 
admits of no exception ; and if modern Europe and the 
United States of America were in the same condition with 
the monarchies and republics of the ancient world, I should 
at once subscribe to the conclusion. But in the ancient 
governments the mass of the people, owing to the want of 
printing, never were educated nor civilized, and even the 
attainments of the ruling classes were extremely limited. 
They had literature and the fine arts, but they had no sound 
morality, no pure religion, little science, and very few of the 
useful arts which have resulted from science. The national 
greatness of those ages, therefore, was not the growth of 
the common mind, but arose from the genius of a few 
individuals, aided by accidental circumstances. It was like 
the dominion of France in our own day, when the military 
talents of Napoleon extended her sway from Naples to 
Moscow, and from Lisbon to Vienna ; but which, resting 
on no superiority in the French people over the people of 
the conquered nations, was dissolved in a day, even under 
the eye of the commanding genius who had raised it. 

When we apply the history of the past as an index to the 
events of the future, the condition of like circumstances is 
wanting ; for Europe and the United States are in the 
progress of presenting, for the first time in the world, the 
spectacle of an universally educated people ; and, on this 
account, I do not anticipate the possibility of civilization 
perishing, or modern nations becoming effeminate and cor- 
rupt. The discovery of the natural laws, and those of 
organization in particular, will guard them against this evil. 
It is true, that only a few states in Europe have yet orga- 
nized the means of universally educating the people ; but 
Prussia, France, Holland, and Switzerland have done so, 
and Britain is becoming anxious to follow their example. 
The others must pursue the same course for their own 
security and welfare. A barbarous people Cannot exist in 
safety beside snlightone'd nations. 



324 PROGRESS OF FREEDOM. 

For the same reasons, I do not anticipate the dissolution 
of the union of the States of America, or that they will lose 
their freedom. They are advancing in knowledge and 
morality ; and whenever the conviction becomes general, 
that the interests of the whole states are in harmony, which 
they undoubtedly are, the miserable attempts to foster the 
industry of one at the expense of another will be given up, 
and they may live in amity, and flourish long, the boast of 
the world, so far as natural causes of dissolution are con-* 
cerned. This expectation is founded on the hope that they 
will give a real education to their people ; an education 
which shall render them conversant with the great principles 
of morals and political economy ; so that they may know 
that there is a power above themselves, that of nature and 
nature's God, whose laws they must obey before they can 
be prosperous and happy. I assume, also, that means will 
be found to expunge the blot and pestilence of slavery from 
their free institutions. It is a canker which will consume 
the vitals of the Union, if it be not in time eradicated. 
These expectations may appear to some to be bold and chi- 
merical ; but truth's triumphs have no limits ; and justice, 
when once recognised as a rule of action, which it empha- 
tically is in the institutions of the United States, cannot be 
arrested midway in its career. 

From the principles now laid down, it follows that the 
tendency of all governments, in modem times, is to become 
more democratic in proportion as the people become more 
intelligent and moral. Since 1831, our own government 
has been much more under the influence of the people than 
at any previous period of our history. Those who feel alarm 
at the march of democracy, read history without the lights 
of philosophy. They have their minds filled with the bar- 
barous democracies of Greece and Rome, and of the French 
revolution, and tremble at the anticipated rule of an ignorant 
rabble in Britain. On the other hand, the only democracy 
which I anticipate as capable of gaining the ascendency 
here, will be that of civilized and enlightened, of moral? 
and refined men ; and if the principles which I have ex- 
pounded be correct, that the higher sentiments and intellect 
are intended by Nature to govern, it will be morally impos- 
sible that, where an enlightened and an ignorant class co- 
exist, as in Britain, the ignorant can rule. In France the 
reign of the ferocious democrats was short-lived ; the 
superior class gradually prevailed, and the reign of terro* 



PROGRESS OF FREEDOM. 325 

hever was restored. In the ancient democracies there wa9 
ho enlightened class comparable with that of Britain. I 
regard, therefore, the fears of those who apprehend that the 
still ignorant and rude masses of our country will gain 
political power, and introduce anarchy, as equally unfounded 
with the terror that the rivers will some day flow upward, 
and spread the waters of the ocean over the valleys and the 
mountains. The laws of the moral are as stable as those 
of the physical world ; both may be shaken for a time by 
storms or convulsions, but the great elements of order 
remain for ever untouched, and after the clearing of the 
atmosphere they are seen in all their original strength and 
beauty. The result which I anticipate is, that edecation, 
religion, and the knowledge of the natural laws, will in time 
extend over all classes of the community, till the conviction 
shall become general, that the Creator has rendered all our 
interests and enjoyments compatible ; and that then all 
classes will voluntarily abandon exclusive privileges, unjust 
pretensions to superiority, and the love of selfish dominion 
—and establish a social condition, in which homage will be 
paid only to virtue, knowledge, and utility, and in which a 
pure Christian equality, founded on the principle of doing 
to others as we would wish others to do unto us, will uni- 
versally prevail. These days may be very distant ; but 
causes leading to them appear to me to exist, and to be 
already in operation ; and I hope that, in giving expression 
to these anticipations, I am stating the deductions of a sound 
philosophy, and not uttering the mere inspirations of a warm 
imagination. At all events, this theory, which places inde- 
pendence, freedom, public prosperity, and individual happi- 
ness, on the basis of religion, morality, and intelligence, ia 
ennobling in itself, and cannot possibly deceive us ; because, 
however far mankind may stop short of the results which I 
have anticipated, and for the realization of which I allow 
centuries of time, it is certain that by no other path can 
they attain to any solid enjoyment, while for every step 
that they shall advance in this one, they will reap a cor* 
responding reward.* 

* A cheering sign of improvement is presented in the 
superior works that are now prepared for the instruction of the 
people both in this country and in the United States. " The 
School Library," published under the sanction and by authority 
of the Board of Education of the state of Massachusetts, by 
33 



LECTURE XVIII. 

RELIGIOUS DUTIES OF MAN. 

Consideration of man's duties to God, so far as discoverable 
by the light of nature — Natural theology a branch of natural 
philosophy — Not superseded by revelation — Brown, Stew- 
art, and Chalmers quoted — Natural theology a guide to the 
sound interpretation of scripture — Foundation of natural 
religion in the faculties of man — Distinction between morals 
and religion — The Bible does not create the religious feel- 
ings, but is fitted only to enlighten, enliven, and direct them 
— Illustration of this view — Stability of religion, even amid 
the downfall of churches and creeds — Moral and religious du- 
ties prescribed to man by natural theology — Prevalent errone- 
ous views of divine worship — Natural evidence of God's exis- 
tence and attributes— Man's ignorance the cause of the past 
barrenness and obscurity of natural religion — Importance of 
the Book of Creation as a revelation of the Divine Will. 
Having discussed the foundation of moral philosophy, the 
duties of man as an individual and as a social being, and 
also the causes of the independence and freedom of nations, 
with the relations of the different forms of government to 
the moral and intellectual conditions of the people, I proceed 
to consider man's duty to God, so far as this can be disco- 
vered by the light of nature. 

Lord Brougham, in his " Discourse of Natural Theology," 
maintains, with great truth, that natural theology is a branch 
of natural philosophy. His argument is the following : It 
is a truth of physics, that vision is performed by the eye 
refracting light, and making it converge to a focus upon the 
retina. The eye is an optical instrument, which, by the 
peculiar combination of its lenses, and the different materials 
they are composed of, produces vision. Design and adapta- 
tion are clearly manifested in its construction. These are 
truths in natural philosophy ; but a single step converts them 

Messrs. Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb, of Boston, contains 
volumes replete with instruction, and characterized by good 
taste. The state of New York, likewise, has established a 
fund for supplying schools with good libraries. Private indi- 
viduals, also, are contributing important works to the educa- 
tion of the people. Among these, I have recently seen one 
that was much wanted, and is now admirably supplied by E. 
P. Hurlbut, Esq., namely, a work on " Civil Office and Political 
Ethics." The " Ethics " are obviously founded on the new 
philosophy. 



NATURAL RELIGION. 327 

mto evidences in natural theology. The eye must have 
been formed by a Being possessing knowledge of the pro- 
perties of light, and of the matter of which the eye is 
composed ; that Being is no inhabitant of earth : He is 
superior to man : He is his Maker : He is God. Thus, the 
first branch of natural theology, or that which treats of the 
existence and power of the Deity, rests on the same basis 
with physical science ; in faet, it is a direct induction from 
the truths of science. 

The second branch of natural theology treats of the du- 
ties of man toward God, and of the probable designs of 
the Deity in regard to his creatures. The facts of mental 
philosophy stand in the same relation to this branch, that 
the facts in physical science stand in relation to the first 
branch. By contemplating each mental faculty, the ob- 
jects to which it is related by its constitution, its sphere of 
action, its uses and abuses, we may draw certain conclu- 
sions regarding his intentions in creating our faculties, and 
touching the duty which we owe to Him in the employment 
of them. It is obvious, that as God has given us under- 
standing, able to discriminate between the uses and abuses 
of our faculties ; and moral sentiments, leading us to prefer 
their use ; we owe it to Him as a duty, to fulfil his inten- 
tions, thus obviously expressed in our creation, by using 
our powers aright, and not abusing them. 

The second branch of natural theology, like the first, rests 
upon the same foundation with all the other inductive 
sciences ; the only difference being, that the one belongs 
chiefly to the inductive science of physics, and the other to 
the inductive science of mind* This distinction, however, 
is not perfectly accurate ; because the evidence of the 
existence and attributes of God, and also of man's duty 
toward Him, may be found in both branches of philosophy. 

It has been objected, that revelation supersedes the ne- 
cessity of studying natural theology. Dr. Thomas Brown, 
in his lectures on Moral Philosophy in the University of 
Edinburgh, has furnished a brief, but powerful, answer to 
this objection. " On this subject," says he,f " that con*- 
prehends the sublimest of all the truths which man is per- 
mitted to attain, the benefit of revelation may be considered 

* See Lord Brougham's Discourse, 3d edit., p. 98. His 
Argument is not clear. 
f Vol. IV. p. 401. 



328 NATURAL RELIGION. 

to render every inquiry superfluous, that does not flow from 
it. But to those who are blessed with a clearer illumination, 
it cannot be uninteresting to trace the fainter lights, which, 
in the darkness of so many gloomy ages, amid the oppression 
of tyranny in various forms, and of superstition more afflict- 
ing than tyranny itself, could preserve, still dimly visible to 
man, that virtue which he was to love, and that Creator 
whom he was to adore. Nor can it be without profit, even 
to their better faith, to find all nature thus concurring, as to 
its most important truths, with revelation itself ; and every- 
thing, living and inanimate, announcing that high and holy 
One, of whose perfections they have been privileged with a 
more splendid manifestation." 

Dugald Stewart, in his Outlines of Moral Philosophy, also 
treats at considerable length of natural religion. " The study 
of philosophy," says he,* "in all its various branches, both 
natural and moral, affords at every step a new illustration that 
the design which we trace in creation indicates wisdom, and 
that it operates in conformity to one uniform plan, insomuch 
that the truths of natural religion gain an accession of evi- 
dence from every addition that is made to the stock of hu- 
man knowledge." 

Dr. Chalmers, in the fifth chapter of his Bridgewater 
Treatise, discusses M the special and subordinate adaptations 
of external nature to the moral constitution of man," and 
observes, " Notwithstanding the blight which has so obvi- 
ously passed over the moral world, and defaced many of its 
original lineaments, while it has left the materialism of 
creation, the loveliness of its scenes and landscapes, in a 
great measure untouched — still we possess very much the 
same mtaerials for a Natural Theology, in reasoning on the 
element of virtue, as in reasoning on the element of beauty." 
(P. 191.) 

Farther — I consider the study of natural theology as im- 
portant in leading to a sound interpretation of scripture itself. 
Great differences exist in the interpretations of its declara- 
tions by different sects ; and, as all truth must be harmonious, 
it appears to me that whenever the constitution of man and 
the attributes of the Deity shall be ascertained, so far as this 
is possible, by strictly logical induction from facts correctly 
observed in nature, all interpretations of scripture touching 
these points must be brought into harmony with nature, 
* Page 271. 



NATURAL RELIGION. 329 

otherwise they will justly be regarded as erroneous. Every 
well established doctrine in moral philosophy and in natural 
theology, founded on the constitution of nature, will be a 
plumb-line by which to adjust interpretations of scripture. 
The scriptural doctrine of the corruption of human nature, 
for example, is one orr which a vast variety of opinions is 
entertained by Christians. Phrenology shows that every 
faculty has received from the Creator an organ, and been 
furnished with legitimate objects, although each of them has 
also a wide sphere in which it may commit abuses. As the 
evidence of the organ is physical and indestructible, it must 
in time extinguish all interpretations of scripture that are at 
variance with it. When scripture is interpreted in such a 
manner as to contradict the sound conclusions of reason, on 
subjects which He within the legitimate province of reason, 
all such interpretations must be powerless, or positively 
mischievous. The sound dictates of reason are the revela- 
tions of God's attributes and will to the human understand- 
ing, through the medium of our natural constitution and that 
of external nature, and they cannot be permanently and 
successfully resisted by any opinions of human origin. 
Again, no opinions of divine origin can be in opposition to 
the sound dictates of reason ; for God cannot contradict 
himself. In no religious creed, therefore, should there be 
any article, in regard to matters cognizable by reason, that 
does not harmonize with natural theology and moral philo- 
sophy, soundly deduced from facts ; in short, with the 
manifestations of the Creator's attributes and will, impressed 
by himself on creation.* The scripture may go beyond, but, 
when correctly interpreted, it never can contradict^ the sound 
deductions of reason. In like manner, there should be no 
philosophy that is not religious ; that is to say, which should 
not be viewed as a chapter of the Creator's great book of 
* It is gratifying to trace the recognition of this principle in 
the works of divines. The Rev. Baden Powell, Savilian Pro- 
fessor of Geometry in the University of Oxford, in his work on 
"the Connexion of Natural and Divine Truth," says, " Physi- 
cal science is the necessary foundation of natural theology : 
certain of the truths it discloses are warnings against mistaking 
the purport of scriptures ; and the right use of the caution thus 
inculcated applies widely in the interpretation of revelation. 
Inductive philosophy is subservient both to natural and reveal- 
ed religion. The investigation of God's works is an essentiaj 
introduction to the right reception of his word." 
28* 



330 NATURAL RELIGION. 

revelation, addressed to the human understanding in the 
constitution of the universe. 

I proceed, therefore, to consider the subject of natural 
theology, without fearing that, if properly conducted, it will 
endanger any other class or truths. 

The first point which I propose to investigate relates to 
the foundation of natural religion. I beg of you to observe, 
that religion emanates from sentiment or emotion, and that 
it does not consist of a collection of mere intellectual con- 
ceptions or ideas. The foundations of it lie in the organs 
of Veneration, Wonder, and Hope. A brief explanation will 
enable you to understand this view. War springs originally, 
not from the human intellect, but from the propensities of 
Combativeness and Destructiveness, which give an instinc- 
tive tendency to oppose, to contend, and to destroy. There 
are legitimate spheres within which these propensities may 
act beneficially ; but when they are too energetic, they carry 
captive the other powers, enlist them in their service, and 
then lead to the extensive destruction and horrors of war. 
Combativeness and Destructiveness, operating in savage 
man with very little intellect, produce war in which ambush 
and cunning are the arts, and clubs and bows and arrows the 
weapons, employed in destruction. The same propensities, 
acting in the enlightened nations of modern Europe, lead to 
the employment of scientific principles in the construction 
of works of attack and of defence, and to the use of cannon, 
and other ingenious and complicated instruments of destruc- 
tion. Still, Combativeness and Destructiveness are the 
original sources in the human mind from which war itself, 
in all its forms and with all its weapons, flows. If these in- 
stincts were not possessed, men would feel no impulse to 
fight, any more than they feel an impulse to fly. In like 
manner, the whole art of music rests on the organs of Tune 
and Time as its foundation. In some individuals these 
organs are extremely defective ; and they not only feel no 
internal impulse prompting them to produce melody, but are 
insensible to its charms when produced by others. In other 
persons, again, these organs act with such energy, that they 
impel them, as it were, to elicit music from every object. 
You may have seen individuals who, in want of a better in- 
strument, have beat out passable tunes by a succession of 
blows on their own chins. When the musical organs engage 
the intellectual faculties to assist them, they obtain, bv their 



NATURAL RELIGION. 331 

aid, instruments for producing music, refined and perfect in 
proportion to the degree in which the intellect is instructed 
in the various arts and sciences capahle of being applied to 
the production of melody and harmony. Still, you clearly 
perceive that the origin or foundation of the whole art and 
practice of music lies in the organs of Tune and Time. 

Farther — You can readily infer that war will be practised 
by any nation very much in the proportion which Combative- 
ness and Destructiveness bear in them to the other faculties. 
If these propensities preponderate over the moral sentiments, 
the people will be constantly craving for war and seeking 
occasions for quarrels. If they be very feeble, the people's 
attention will be directed to other and more peaceful pur- 
suits, and they will naturally endeavour to avoid contentions. 
If we wish to tame a warlike people to the arts of peace, 
we should try to stimulate their higher faculties, and to re- 
move all objects calculated to excite their pugnacious pro- 
pensities. The same remarks apply to music. A native 
love of music will prevail in any people, in proportion to the 
natural endowment of the organs of Tune and Time in their 
brains. If we wish to cultivate music in a people, we should 
address the organs of Tune and Time by the sweetest and 
most touching melodies, and thereby call them gently and 
agreeably into action ; knowing that by exercising them, 
and by no other means, we can increase their energy, and 
augment that people's love of music. 

Similar observations may be applied to religion. The 
foundations of religion lie in the organ of Veneration, which 
instinctively feels emotions of respect and reverence, and 
gives the tendency to worship ; in the organ of Wonder 
which longs after the new, the astonishing, and the super* 
natural, and which, combined with Veneration, leads us to 
adore an unseen power ; and in the organ of Hope, which 
instinctively looks forward in expectation of future enjoy- 
ment. These inspire man with a ceaseless desire to offer 
homage to a superior Being, to adore him, and to seek his 
protection. The inherent activity of these organs has 
prompted men in all ages to employ their intellectual faculties 
to discover as many facts as possible concerning the exis- 
tence and attributes of superior powers, or gods, and to in- 
stitute ceremonies in honour of them. In some tribes of 
savages, we are informed that no traces of religion have been 
discovered ; but you will find that in them the organs which 



332 NATURAL RELIGION. 

I have named are extremely small. They are in the same 
condition in regard to the religious feelings, that other tribes, 
in whom the organs of Tune and Time are deficient, stand 
in regard to melody ; these have no music, in consequence 
of the extreme feebleness of the related organs in their brains. 
On the other hand, wherever the organs of the religious 
sentiments are large in a people, the nation or tribe will be 
found to be proportionally devoted to religion. If their in- 
tellectual faculties be feeble, if they have no science and no 
revelation to direct them, they may be ingulfed in supersti- 
tion ; but superstition is only the religious sentiments gone 
astray. They may be found worshipping stocks and stones, 
reptiles, and idols of the most revolting description ; but still, 
this shows, not only that the tendency to worship exists in 
them, but that it may be manifested in great vigour when the 
intellect is feeble or very imperfectly informed. It proves 
also that these sentiments are in themselves blind, or mere 
general impulses, which will inevitably err, unless directed 
by an illumination superior to their own. 

There is a distinction in nature between morals and reli- 
gion. The organs of Conscientiousness and Benevolence 
are the foundations of morals. When they are predomi- 
nantly large, they produce the tendency to do justly, and to 
act kindly, toward all men ; but if the organs of the religious 
sentiments be deficient, there will not be an equal tendency 
to worship. Thus, we meet with many men who are moral, 
but not religious. In like manner, if the organs of the reli- 
gious sentiments be large, and those of Conscientiousness 
and Benevolence be deficient, there may be a strong ten- 
dency to perform acts of religious devotion, with a great 
disregard of the duties of brotherly love and honesty. We 
meet with such characters in the world. The late Sir Henry 
MoncreirT, minister of St. Cuthbert's Parish, in Edinburgh, 
is sakl to have described a person, with whom he had had 
many transactions, in these forcible terms : " He is a clever 
man, a kind-hearted man, and he seems to be a religious 
man — in short, an excellent man ; only, somehow or other, 
he is sadly deficient in common honesty." Phrenology en- 
ables us to comprehend the combination of qualities which 
gives rise to such characters. The description indicates 
large intellect, large organs of the religious sentiments, and 
large Benevolence, but great deficiency in the organs of 
Conscientiousness. 



NATURAL RELIGION. 333 

According to these views, religion rests on the sentiments 
of Veneration, Wonder, and Hope, as its foundations. The 
enlightenment of the intellect serves to direct these senti- 
ments to their proper objects, but does not produce them, 
and therefore does not produce religion. Revelation is 
generally viewed as a communication from heaven to the 
intellectual faculties, informing them of truths which they 
could not discover by their unaided exertions, and enabling 
them thereby to direct and guide the religious sentiments 
to objects which they could not reach, unless thus enlight- 
ened and directed. Assuming this view to be correct, 
revelation does not create religious feelings in man : it can 
only enlighten, enliven, and direct the religious sentiments 
previously inherent in his nature. This idea may be illus- 
trated thus : Let us imagine that in the songs of heaven 
there is a particular choral symphony, which the human 
faculties, unaided, could never invent. If an angel were 
sent to teach it, it is quite conceivable that the organs of 
Tune and Time, guided by such a teacher, might learn to 
execute it ; and that men thus taught might be better pre- 
pared for joining the choral band of heaven, when they 
entered the realms of bliss, than if they had not been 
favoured with this celestial instruction. This is conceivable, 
without supposing the angel to create the organs of Tune 
and Time in man, and without supposing those organs to 
deviate from the laws of their natural constitution in acquir- 
ing the celestial music. We can conceive also, that as this 
music would be purer, more exalted, more exquisite, and 
more perfect, than any melody of merely human growth, the 
practice of it might enliven the faculties of Tune and Time, 
render them more exquisite in their perceptions, and lead 
them K) prefer higher standards of music ; and that, as a 
natural consequence of this enlivenment, the organs might 
increase in size and activity, and the capacity for music be 
greatly enlarged, 

In like manner, scripture may be conceived to communi- 
cate truths which the unaided faculties of man could not 
reach, but still designedly adapted to his previously existing 
faculties, and operating by exalting, purifying, invigorating, 
and directing them in the exercise of their natural functions. 
It is conceivable that individuals may, by such a cultivation 
and direction of their moral and religious sentiments, be 
prepared, in a manner and to a degree which they could not 



$34 NATURAL RELIGION. 

reach but for this scriptural instruction and guidance, to join 
the society of angels and just men made perfect in heaven. 
Natural theology, for example, is not calculated to present 
us with clear and practical information concerning a future 
state of existence. It affords grounds of expectation of a 
life to come, but no demonstrative evidence of it. To make 
known a condition of being beyond the grave, and to prepare 
us for it, have ever baffled the power of natural theology ; 
and in regard to this particular object, its deficiency must 
be universally confessed. As those individuals, in whom 
the organs of Tune and Time are most fully developed and 
best cultivated, would be best prepared to profit by the angel- 
teacher's visits ; in like manner, those men in whom the 
organs of the religious, moral, and intellectual faculties are 
largest and most fully exercised, would be best prepared to 
imbibe, assimilate, and practise the communications of the 
Bible on this and other topics that lie beyond the sphere 
of reason. 

It rs thus impossible that religion itself can be overset, 
or eradicated from the human mind. The forms and cere- 
monies by which the religious sentiments manifest them- 
selves may be expected to vary in different ages, and in 
different countries, according to the state of the intellectual 
cultivation of the people ; but these emotions themselves 
evidently glow with a never-dying flame, and man will cease 
to worship only when he ceases to exist. 

After the exposition which I have given of the origin of 
music, you would smile if I were to assure you that music 
would perish, if the Society of Professional Musicians was 
dissolved. You would at once discover that this society 
itself, as well as all the pieces which they perform, and the 
instruments which they use, have sprung from the innate 
love of music in the mind, and that it is mistaking the effect 
for the cause, to imagine that, when they cease to exist as 
a society, music will become extinct. The result of their 
dissolution would be, that the inherent activity of the musi- 
cal faculties would prompt other individuals to establish 
other societies, probably on more improved principles ; and 
music would flourish still. 

It is equally absurd to mistake churches, articles of faith, 
and acts of parliament, for the foundations of religion, and 
to imagine that, when these are changed, religion will perish. 
The day was, when religion was universally believed to rest, 



NATURAL RELIGION. 335 

tor Us existence, solely on the decrees of Roman Catholic 
councils and popish bulls, and when the priests assured the 
world that the moment their church and authority were 
subverted, religion would be for ever destroyed. But we 
have lived to see religion flourishing vigorously in nations 
which disown that authority and church. If the churches 
and articles of faith now prevalent shall be changed, of which 
there is much probability, the adherents of them will, after 
the fashion of the priests of Rome, proclaim that the doom 
of religion has been sealed ; but all men who are capable 
of looking at the true foundation of religious worship, firmly 
and deeply laid in the human faculties, will be unmoved by 
such alarms. They will expect religion to shine forth in 
ever-brightening loveliness and splendour, in proportion to 
the enlightenment of the public mind ; and they will fear 
neither infernal nor terrestrial foes. 

It would greatly assist the progress of improvement, if a 
firm conviction of the stability of religion could be carried 
home to the public mind ; because many excellent persons 
might thereby be delivered from the blind terrors in which 
they constantly live, lest it should be destroyed ; and the ac- 
rimony of contending sects would also be lessened, every one 
of which identifies its own triumph with that of religion itself. 

The next question that presents itself is, Whether there 
be any moral or religious duties prescribed to man by na- 
tural theology 1 In answering this question, moralists in 
general proceed to prove the existence and attributes of 
God, and to infer from them the duties which we owe to 
him as our creator, preserver, and governor. They regard 
him as the mighty God, and us as his lowly subjects, bound 
to fear, tremble, love, and obey him : I entirely concur in 
this view when applied to doing the will of God; but it 
appears to me that it has often led to misconceptions and 
abuse. Religious duty has, somehow or other, come to be 
too generally regarded (in the spirit at least in which it is 
practised, if not in words) as a homage rendered to the 
Divine Being for his own gratification, which he will be dis- 
pleased if we withhold, and which, on the other hand, if it 
be cordially and devoutly tendered to him, he will reward 
with benefits conferred on the devotee. In short, it par- 
takes too much of the character of selfishness. Many 
persons have a notion of the Divine Being somewhat resem- 
bling that of an earthly sovereign, whom they may win and 



336 NATURAL RELIGION. 

gratify by praises and flattery, and from whose favour they 
may expect to receive something agreeable and ad van* 
tageous in return. All this is superstition and error. I am 
aware that no rational Christian puts his religious worship 
into the form of such propositions ; but I fear that the spirit 
of them can be too often detected in much of the religion 
of the world. 

It appears to me that the religious service of the Deity pos- 
sesses, under the lights of nature, a totally different character. 

The existence of a supreme Creator and governor of the 
world, is no doubt the first position to be established in 
natural religion : but the proofs of it are so abundant, so 
overpowering to the understanding, and so captivating to 
the sentiments, that I regard this as the simplest, the easiest, 
and the least likely to be disputed, of all the branches of the 
subject. If reflecting intellect be possessed, we can scarcely 
move a step in the investigation of nature without receiving 
irresistible proofs of divine agency and wisdom. I opened 
the first book embracing natural science that came to my 
hand, when composing this lecture. It happened to be a 
Number of the Penny Cyclopaedia, which had just been sent 
in by the bookseller ; and I turned up the first page that 
presented itself, (p. 151.) It chanced to be one on bees, and 
1 read as follows : W In many instances, it is only by the bees 
travelling from flower to flower, that the pollen or farina is 
carried from the male to the female flowers, without which 
they would not fructify. One species of bee would not be 
sufficient to fructify ail the various sorts of flowers, were the 
bees of that species ever so numerous, for it requires species 
of different sizes and different constructions." M. Sprengel 
found that " not only are insects indispensable in fructifying 
different species of Iris, but that some of them, as I. Xiphium, 
require the agency of the larger humblebees, which alone 
are strong enough to force their way between the stile-flags ; 
and hence, as these insects are not so common as many 
others, this Iris is often barren, or bears imperfect seeds." 

This simple announcement proves to my understanding, 
incontestibly, the existence and presence of a Deity in crea- 
tion ; because we see here an important end, clearly involv- 
ing design, accomplished by agents altogether unconscious 
of the service in which they are engaged. The bee, per- 
forming, all unconsciously to itself, the work of fructification 
of the flowers — and the provision of bees of different weight* 



NATURAL RELIGION. 337 

for stile-flags of different strengths — bespeak, in language 
irresistible, the hand and mind of an intelligent contriver. 
And who is this contriver 1 It is not man. There is only 
one answer possible — it is the Deity ; and one object of his 
selecting such a method for operating, appears to have been, 
to speak home to the understandings of men, concerning 
his own presence, power, and wisdom. Nature is absolutely 
overflowing with similar examples. 

But there is another species of proof of the existence of 
a God — that which is addressed to the poetic sentiments of 
man. " The external world." says Mr. Sedgwick, "proves 
to us the being of a God in two ways : by addressing the 
imagination, as well a3 by informing the reason. It speaks 
to our imaginative and poetic feelings, and they are as much 
a part of ourselves as our limbs and our organs of sense. 
Music has no charms for the deaf, nor has painting for the 
blind ; and all the touching sentiments and splendid image- 
ry borrowed by the poet from the world without, would 
lose their magic power, and might as well be presented to 
a cold statue as to a man, were there no preordained har- 
mony between his mind and the material beings around him. 
It is certain that the glories of the external world are so 
fitted to our imaginative powers as to give them a percep- 
tion of the Godhead and a glimpse of his attributes ; and 
this adaptation is a proof of the existence of God, of the same 
kind (but of greater or less power, according to the consti- 
tution of our individual minds) with that which we derive 
from the adaptation of our senses to the constitution of the 
material world." Discourse on the studies of the University 
of Cambridge, pp. 20, 21. 

Assuming, then, the existence of a Deity as demonstrable 
by means of the work of creation, the next question is, 
What can we discover of his character by the exercise of 
our natural faculties 1 

In answering this question, I observe, in the first place, 
that we cannot possibly discover anything from creation con- 
cerning his person or personal history, if I may use such 
expressions, because there is no manifestation of these in 
the external world. If, for example, we were to present a 
thread of raw silk to an intelligent man, and ask him to 
discover, from its physical appearances alone, the individual 
characteristics of the maker of the thread, he would tell us 
that it is impossible to do so ; because the object presented 
29 



338 NATURAL RELIGION. 

to him does not contain one element from which his under- 
standing can legitimately infer a single fact in answer to 
such a question. In like manner, when we survey earth, 
air, and ocean, our own minds and bodies, and every page 
of creation that is open to us ; although we perceive thou- 
sands of indications of the mental qualities of the Creator, we 
receive not one ray of light concerning his form of being, his 
personal history, residence, or individual nature. All conjec- 
tures on this subject, therefore, founded on reason apart 
from scripture, are the offspring of fancy or of superstition. 

But we receive from creation overwhelming proofs of his 
mental attributes. In the stupendous mechanism of the 
heavens, in which our sun and whole planetary system are 
but as one wheel, and that so small that, although annihi- 
lated, its absence would scarcely be perceptible to an eye 
embracing the universe — we perceive indications of power 
which absolutely overwhelm our imaginations. In the 
arrangements of physical and animal creation we discover 
proofs of wisdom without limits ; and in the endowment of 
our own minds, and the adaptation of the extenal world to 
them, we discover evidence of unbounded goodness, intel- 
ligence, and justice. 

The inference which I draw from these manifestations 
of the divine character is this : that God veils from us his 
individual or personal nature, to avert from our minds every 
conception that he stands in need of us, or of our homage 
or services, for his own sake ; so that we may have neither 
temptation nor apology for adopting a system of worship, 
such as we should address to a being whom we desired to 
flatter or please by our attentions ; — and that he reveals to 
ns his moral and intellectual attributes, to intimate to us that 
the worship which will meet with his approbation, is that 
which will best cultivate our own moral and intellectual 
powers Now, what is this form of service 1 All creation 
proclaims an answer ! It is acting in the spirit of the Creator 
as manifested in his works. If so, natural religion must be 
progressive in its principles and duties, in exact corres- 
pondence with an increasing knowledge of the mental 
character and will of the Deity, expressed in his works ; 
and it really is so. 

Theologians often reproach the religion of nature with 
barrenness, darkness, and uncertainty. They might as 
legitimately make the same charge against the philosophy 



NATURAL RELIGION. 66$ 

of nature. Up to a very recent period indeed, the philoso- 
phy of nature was barren ; but the reason was, not that in 
itself it contained no wisdom, nor any elements adapted to 
the profitable use of man, but that man's ignorance was so 
great, that he had not discovered how to study that philoso- 
phy in its right spirit. As soon as Lord Bacon put him into 
the road to study wisely, natural philosophy became munifi- 
cently productive ; and at this hour, her stores continue to 
open more and more widely before the human intellect 
and imagination. 

The same history will hereafter be given of natural reli- 
gion. While men were ignorant of every principle of philo- 
sophy, it was most natural to ascribe every isolated effect to 
an isolated power, and to imagine as many deities as there 
were agencies in the world which they could not reconcile. 
They saw the rivers rushing to the ocean in mighty torrents ; 
their Veneration and Wonder were moved by the power 
displayed in the descent of the waters, and they imagine a 
river god as the cause. They perceived the earth yielding 
spontaneously fruits, and flowers, and herbage, of the richest 
kinds ; they felt the bounty of the gifts, and, ignorant of 
their cause, ascribed them to the goddess Ceres. They saw 
the seasons change, and the sun, moon, and planets pre- 
senting different appearances ; and, ignorant of the cause, 
but deeply impressed with the manifestations of power which 
these orbs displayed, they imagined them to be deities them- 
selves. All this was the natural effect of the human facul- 
ties operating in profound ignorance of physical causation. 

But since philosophy demonstrated that the planets 
revolve, and rivers roll, in virtue of one law of gravitation, 
we no longer ascribe each action to a separate deity, but 
attribute both to one ; and our notions of that one are pro- 
digiously enhanced by the perception of a single power 
extending over such mighty intervals of space, and operating 
in all according to one uniform law. In proportion, there- 
fore, as we advance in knowledge of creation, we discover 
proofs of uniformity, combination, mutual relationship, and 
adaptation, that compel the understanding to ascend to one 
cause, and to concentrate in that cause the most transcen- 
dent qualities. It is thus that our conceptions of the 
attributes of the divine Being drawn from nature, go on 
increasing in truth, in magnificence, and in beauty, in pro- 
portion as we proceed in the acquisition of knowledge ; and 



340 NATURAL RELIGION. 

as our rapid progress in it is of recent origin, we may well 
believe that natural religion could not earlier have presented 
many attractions to the understanding or the moral senti- 
ments of man. 

But the reproach is made against natural theology, that it 
is barren also in regard to man's duties. Here the same 
answer occurs. Natural theology teaches that it is man's 
duty to perform aright the part which God has allotted to 
him in creation ; but how could he discover what that part 
was, until he became acquainted with himself and with 
creation 1 Natural theology was barren in regard to duties 
only because the knowledge of nature, which alone gives it 
form and substance, had itself scarcely an existence in the 
human mind. Man had not learned to read the record, and 
was therefore ignorant of the precepts which it taught. He 
was exactly in the same condition, in regard to natural reli- 
gion, in which most of us would be, if we had never received 
any but a Gaelic Bible. The whole doctrines and precepts 
of Christianity may be faithfully recorded, and most explicitly 
set down in it ; but if we cannot interpret the characters, 
of what service is the book to us 1 It would be absurd, 
however, to object against the Bible itself, on this account, 
that it is barren of instruction. 

In like manner, whenever we shall have interpreted aright 
the constitution of the human mind and body, the nature of 
the physical world, and our relations to it and to God, which 
constitute the record of our duties, as prescribed by the 
Creator in the book of nature, we shall find natural theology 
most copious in its precepts, most express in its injunctions, 
and most peremptory in its demands of obedience. In 
short, it commands us, from God, to act according to his 
will, as revealed to our moral and intellectual faculties in 
creation. For example : The moment that we discover that 
he has bestowed on man an organ of Philoprogenitiveness, 
and the moment that we comprehend its uses and objects, 
every well constituted mind feels that this is a direct precept 
from God, that parents should love their children. But when 
we discover that this is a mere blind impulse, which may 
figregiously err, and that God has given us intellect and 
moral sentiments to direct its manifestations, the obligation 
is instantly recognised to lie on all parents, to use these 
faculties, in order to attain the knowledge necessary for 
loving their children according to true wisdom. And what 



NATURAL RELIGION. 341 

is this knowledge! It is acquaintance with the bodily 
constitution and mental faculties of children, and with the 
influence of air, diet, exercise, seasons, clothing, mental 
instruction, and society, upon them ; so that the parents 
may be enabled to train them in health, prepare them for 
becoming virtuous members of society, and secure their 
present and future happiness. If any mother, through 
ignorance of the physical constitution of her child, shall so 
mismanage its treatment that it shall become miserable or 
die, she has neglected a great duty prescribed by natural 
theology ; because the moment she perceives that God has 
rendered that knowledge necessary to the welfare of the 
child, and has given her understanding to acquire it, she is 
guilty of disobedience to his will in omitting to seek it. 
The unhappiness and death of the child are punishments 
which clearly indicate his displeasure. 

I appeal to you who have followed a course of lectures 
on phrenology and read the " Constitution of Man," and 
been satisfied with the general truth of the principles un- 
folded in them, whether you do not feel these to be duties 
prescribed in the constitution of nature, by the Creator, to 
parents, with a command as clear and explicit, and with a 
sanction as certain, as if he had opened the heavens, and, 
ajnid thunders and the shaking of the universe, delivered 
to them the same precepts written on monumental brass ! 
In truth, they are more so ; because the authenticity of 
the tablets of brass, like those of stone, might be disputed 
and denied by sceptics, who did not themselves see them 
delivered ; while the precepts written in our nature, adapted 
to the constitution of our faculties, and enforced by the whole 
order of creation, stand revealed in a record which never 
decays nor becomes obsolete, and the authenticity of which 
no sceptic can successfully deny. If the precepts therein 
contained be neglected by ignorance, or set at defiance by 
obstinacy, they never are so with impunity ; because God 
in his providence sweeps resistlessly along in the course 
which he has revealed, laying in the grave the children in 
whose persons his organic laws have been deeply infringed, 
rendering unhappy those in whom they have been materially 
neglected, and rewarding with enjoyment only those in 
whose minds and bodies they have been obeyed. 

The same principle applies to every action which our 
constitution and its relations point out to us as proper to be 
2tf* 



342 NATURAL RELIGION. 

done or to be abstained from ; natural theology at once im- 
presses on it the sanction of the Divinity, and enforces it by 
all the dictates of Conscientiousness, Veneration, and Hope. 
If I am sound in the view which I have laboured to establish, 
that the world is really constituted on the principle of the 
supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect ; that is, 
that human nature and the external world are so arranged 
as to admit of man becoming prosperous and happy in pro- 
portion as he becomes thoroughly moral and intelligent, as 
he seeks his chief enjoyments from his superior faculties-, 
and arranges his time and occupations with a view to that 
result — and by no other means ; — what a fertile field of 
precept for the practice of virtue is thus opened up to us ! 
How eloquent, how forcible, how varied, and how instruc- 
tive, may not the teachers of God's law and God's will then 
become, when they shall have the whole book of creation 
opened to them for texts ; when every line shall be clear, 
interesting, and instructive ; and when they shall be able to 
demonstrate, in the consequences which attend the fulfil- 
ment or neglect of theirp recepts, that they are teaching 
no vain nor fanciful theories, but the true wisdom of God ! 
Conceive for one moment how much of useful, interesting, 
nay, captivating instruction, might be delivered to a general 
audience, by merely expounding the functions, uses, and 
abuses of the various organs of the body necessary to health, 
and of the organs and faculties of the mind, holding up the 
constitution of each as a Divine intimation to man, and the 
consequences of using or abusing each as solemn precepts 
from the Divinity, addressed to his understanding and his 
moral and religious feelings ! 

In presenting these views for your acceptance, I assume 
that it is possible to discover important duties by studying 
the institutions of the Creator ; and in a preceding lecture 
I have said, that " every act is morally right which is ap- 
proved of by an enlightened intellect, operating along with 
the moral sentiments of Benevolence, Conscientiousness, 
and Veneration ; while all actions disapproved of by these 
faculties are wrong." An objection to this doctrine, how- 
ever, has been stated in the following words : " Here we 
would ask, whose * enlightened intellect ' is referred to in 
tbe above passage, or how we can know when our own 
becomes sufficiently enlightened to be taken as a guide? 
Js this giving us one moral standard, or many 1" I would 



NATURAL RELIGION. 343 

answer this question by propounding to the objector another. 
What moral standard does he himself possess * He will 
probably answer, " the scripture ;" but I reply that the 
scripture is differently interpreted by different minds ; and 
I again inquire, Whose mind constitutes the standard of 
infallible interpretation 1 The pope answers, that the mind 
of himself and of his cardinals, acting in council, do 
so. The general assembly of the church of Scotland, 
however, deny the pretensions of the pope and cardinals, 
and virtually claim it as belonging to themselves.. The 
Episcopalians, Unitarians, and Universalists, on the other 
hand, affirm that the church of Scotland has no more legi- 
timate claim to infallibility in interpreting scripture, than 
the pope. Where, then, is the standard to be found 1 In 
my opinion, the decisions of those individuals who possess 
the largest developementof the moral and intellectual organs, 
and the most favourable combination of them in relation to 
each other, and to the organs of the animal propensities ; 
who also possess the most active temperaments, and who 
have cultivated all these gifts to the highest advantage, will 
be entitled to the greatest respect as authorities on morals 
and religion, whether these be founded on interpretation of 
God's works, or on interpretations of scripture. If this 
standard be imperfect, I know of no other. 

Again — If these views be well founded, how unproductive 
of real advantage must the preaching and teaching of Chris- 
tianity necessarily be, while the duties prescribed by Nature 
are ignorantly neglected ! Nothing appears to me to be 
more preposterous, than for human beings to pray, evening 
and morning, to their Maker — " Thy kingdom come, thy 
will be done on earth as it is in heaven ;" and all the while 
to close their eyes against the perception of the means ap- 
pointed by God for realizing his kingdom and doing his will 
on earth ! So far from the duties prescribed by natural 
theology being either barren or adverse to Christianity, it 
appears to me that practical Christianity has remained, to a 
great extent, unproductive, misunderstood, and comparative- 
ly feeble, in consequence of the dictates of natural theology 
having been unknown and neglected. If I am correct in 
the single position, that men in whom the coronal region 
and the anterior lobe of the brain are large, are naturally 
alive to the truth and excellence of practical Christianity, 
while those in whom these regions, particularly the coronal, 



344 RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 

are deficient, are naturally opposed to, or indifferent about, 
it — how important does it become to obey all the dictates 
of natural theology for improving the developement of the 
brain, as a preliminary condition, indispensable to the gene- 
ral introduction of the morality of Jesus Christ ! 



LECTURE XIX. 

RELIGIOUS DUTIES OP MAN. 

Natural theology prolific in moral precepts — [ts dictates com- 
pared with those of the Ten Commandments — Answer to 
the objection that natural theology excludes prayer — Dr. 
Barrow, Dr. Heylin, and Lord Karnes quoted— Worship of 
the Deity rational. 

In my last lecture I mentioned that natural religion is 
based on the sentiments of Veneration, Wonder, and Hope, 
which are innate in man, and which give him the desire to 
discover, and the disposition to worship and obey, a super- 
natural Power ; that it is the duty of the intellect to direct 
these sentiments to their proper objects ; and that the 
intellect obtains much needful illumination from the study 
of Nature. I regarded the province of reason to be to unfold 
the character and will of God, in so far as these are disco- 
verable in the works of creation. I observed that, on this 
account, natural theology must always keep pace with natu- 
ral science ; science being merely a methodical unfolding 
of what God has done and instituted in creation. Hence 
I inferred that our notions of the character of God will be 
more correct and sublime, in proportion as we become better 
acquainted with his works ; and that our perception of our 
duties will be clearer and more forcible, in proportion as 
we compare correctly our own constitution with his other 
natural institutions. I concluded the last lecture by observ- 
ing that natural theology is in reality extremely prolific in 
precepts, and imperative in enforcing obedience, whenever 
we know how to read the record. In elucidation of this 
remark, I shall now compare the ten commandments with 
the dictates of natural theology, and you shall judge for 
yourselves whether the same law is not promulgated in both. 
In order to see the precept, however, in natural theology, be 
it remembered that you must be able to read the record in 
which it is written ; that is to say, you must understand 



RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 345 

the constitution of the external world, and that of your own 
nature, to such an extent as to be capable of perceiving what 
God intended that a rational being, capable of comprehend- 
ing both, should do, and abstain from doing, in consequence 
of that constitution. If you are ignorant of this natural 
record, then the duties which it contains will appear to you 
to be mere fancies, or gratuitous assumptions ; and the 
observations which I am about to make will probably seem 
irreverent, if not unfounded. But with every indulgence 
for the ignorance of God's natural institutions, in which the 
imperfections of our education have left most of our minds, 
I beg to be forgiven for not bowing before the decisions of 
that ignorance, but to be permitted to appeal to the judgment 
of men possessing the most extended knowledge. If there 
be individuals here who have seriously studied natural 
science, and also the structure and functions of the human 
body, and the nature and functions of the mind, as revealed 
by phrenology, I submit myself to their judgment. They 
have learned to read the record of natural theology, and have 
prepared their minds by knowledge to interpret it aright, 
and their opinions are deserving of more consideration than 
those of other individuals, who have never turned their 
attention to the subject. 

The Ten Commandments are given forth in the book of 
Exodus, which narrates that they were delivered by God 
himself to Moses, written on tables of stone. If we find 
that every one of them is written also by the ringer of God 
in the human constitution, and is enjoined by natural religion, 
this cannot diminish the authority of the scripture, but must 
add to its sanction, by showing nature to harmonize with 
its dictates. 

The first commandment is, " Thou shalt have no other 
Gods before me." 

This forbids an abuse of Veneration ; and all nature, 
when rightly understood, proclaims one God, and enforces 
the same commandment. The nations who are lost in 
superstition and given up to idolatry, are profoundly ignorant 
of natural science. In proportion as we become acquainted 
with nature, the authority of this commandment in natural 
religion becomes stronger and stronger. 

The second, " Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them 
nor serve them," &c. 

This is a repetition or amplification of the same precept. 



346 RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 

Third — " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain." 

This is still directed against an abuse of Veneration. As 
soon as the intellect is enlightened by natural religion, in 
regard to the real attributes of the Deity, the reverence and 
obedience to him, and the avoidance of idolatry, profanity, 
and swearing, prescribed by these commandments, are irre- 
sistibly felt to be right, and conformable to the dictates of 
the natural law. 

Fourth — " Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," 
&c. — " In it thou shalt not do any work," &c. 

This enjoins giving rest to the muscular frame on the 
seventh day, that the brain may be able to manifest the 
moral and intellectual faculties with more complete effect. 
It ordains, also, that on that day the moral and intellectual fa- 
culties shall be exclusively devoted to the study and contem- 
plation of God and his works, and to the doing of his will. 

Every line of our bodily and mental constitution coincides 
with this precept. Phrenology, which is a branch of natural 
philosophy, shows that the mind depends for its powers of 
acting on the state of the brain, and that, if constant mus- 
cular labour be endured, the brain will be inert, and all our 
moral, religious, and intellectual faculties will become obtuse 
and dull : and, on the other hand, that if we indulge in 
ceaseless mental exertion, we shall exhaust and weary out 
our brains by over-activity, and become at length incapable 
of beneficial application to moral and religious duties. . Thus 
the obligation to rest in due season is written as clearly in 
our constitution as in the fourth commandment. 

Indeed, our natural constitution commands not only an 
extent of repose from labour equal to that prescribed by the 
commandment, but greatly more. It imposes on us the duty 
of resting from labour several hours every day in our lives, 
and dedicating them to the study and practice of the will of 
God. The observance, however, which it prescribes of the 
seventh day, is somewhat different from that taught by 
human interpreters of the fourth commandment. On this 
subject the New Testament is silent, so that the mode of 
observing Sunday is left to the discretion of men. Our 
Scottish divines, in general, forbid walking or riding, or any 
other form of exercise and recreation on Sundays, as a con- 
travention of the fourth commandment. In our constitution, 
on the other hand, God proclaims that while incessant labour, 



RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 347 

through its influence on the memtal organs, blunts our moral, 
intellectual, and religious faculties, abstinence from all bodilv 
exertion, and the practice of incessant mental application for 
one entire day, even on religion, are also injurious to the 
welfare of both body and mind ; and that on the seventh 
day there is no exception to the laws which regulate our 
functions on other days. These require that air, exercise, 
and mental relaxation should alternate with moral, religious, 
and intellectual studies. Accordingly, natural theology 
teaches us to transfer a portion of the Sunday's rest and 
holiness to every one of the other days of the week, and to 
permit on the Sundays as much of air, exercise, and recrea- 
tion as will preserve the mental organs in the best condition 
for performing their moral, religious, and intellectual duties.* 

* In the New Testament no express injunction is laid on 
Christians to observe the first day of the week in the same 
manner that the Jews were commanded, in the Old Testa- 
ment, to observe the last day of the week, or Sabbath. In 
point of fact, there is no explicit prescription, in the New 
Testament, of any particular mode of observing the first day 
of the week. While, therefore, all Christian nations have 
agreed in considering themselves not bound by the fourth 
commandment to observe the seventh day, or Jewish Sabbath, 
they have differed in regard to the mode of observing the first 
day of the week ; and as the scripture prescribes no definite 
rule, each nation has adopted such forms of observance as 
appeared to itself to be most accordant with the general spirit 
of Christianity. Thus, in Catholic countries amusements are 
permitted on Sundays, after Divine service ; in Scotland 
amusements and labour, except works of necessity and mercy, 
are prohibited. In Scotland, also, Sunday commences at 
twelve o'clock on Saturday night, and ends at twelve o'clock 
on Sunday night. In Massachusetts, on the other hand, dif- 
ferent views are entertained. While Chap. 50, Sects. 1st, 2d, 
and 3d, of the Revised Statutes, prohibits all persons from 
doing any work, and from travelling on " the Lord's day," Sect. 
4th declares that day, for the purposes of these sections, " to 
include the time between the midnight preceding and the sun- 
setting of the said day." According to the Scottish law, there- 
fore, Sunday consists of twenty-four hours at all seasons of 
the year ; while, according to the "Revised Statutes of Mas- 
sachusetts, " it consists only of sixteen and a half hours on the 
22d of December, and stretches out as the days lengthen, but 
never exceeds nineteen and a half hours at any period. Hence, 
in Scotland, a person would be fined or imprisoned for doing 
acts after sunset, on the Sunday evening, which in Massachu- 



348 RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 

You are aware, that, on the continent of Europe, Sunday 
is devoted, to some extent, to recreation. This may be 
carried too far there ; but unless the scripture abrogate the 
law written by God in our constitution, we, in Scotland, 
have erred a little in the opposite extreme. The force of 
this observation can be appreciated only by those who are 
acquainted with the physiology of the brain. The difference 
between the expounder of the Bible, and him who unfolds 
the natural laws, is this : The former, when he departs from 
the natural laws, can enforce his interpretations of scripture 
only by an arm of flesh. If men refuse to forego air, exer- 
cise, and recreation on the seventh day, the divine may 
refuse them church privileges, or call in the police to fine 
and imprison them ; but he can do no more. He cannot 
change the nature of the mind and body ; nor will the 
Creator punish the people for not acting as their teacher 
desires them, in opposition to the natural laws. The inter- 
preter of the Book of Nature, on the other hand, may wield 
no arm of flesh ; but he is enabled to point to the power of 
God, enforcing the divine laws, and to demonstrate that 
punishment is inseparably connected with infringement, and 
reward with obedience. The expounder of scripture, who, 
without inquiring what God has commanded in his natural 
laws, goes to parliament, and prays for authority to enforce 
his own interpretation of the fourth commandment on his 
country, is met by opposition, ridicule, and aversion ;* he 
is astonished at what he regards as the perverse and irreli- 
gious character of legislators, and ascribes their conduct to 
the corruption of human nature. It is the arm of the Deity 
that opposes him. His scheme, in so far as it prohibits 

setts are entirely lawful. Again, in the Revised Statutes of 
this Commonwealth, it is declared, by Sect. 5, that " no person 
shall be present at any game, sport, play, or public diversion, 
except concerts of sacred music, upon the evening next preced- 
ing or following the Lord's day," under the penalty of paying 
a fine of five dollars. In Edinburgh the best plays and public 
entertainments are brought forth on the evening next preced- 
ing the Lord's day," or Saturday evening, and are then most 
numerously attended ; so that in Boston a Christian is fined 
in five dollars for doing, on that evening, what a Christian in 
Edinburgh is permitted to do, without any penalty whatever. 

* At the time the text was written, Sir Andrew Agnew was 
beseeching parliament to pass a bill for the better observance 
of the Sabbath. 



RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 349 

wholesome recreation, is in opposition to the divine laws 
written in the nature of man : nature speaks with a thou- 
sand tongues ; and his object is baffled by a might which 
he neither sees nor comprehends. 

This appears to me to be the real cause of the bad success 
in parliament of the Sabbath-observance bills. They clearly 
conform to nature in so far as they prohibit compulsory 
labour on that day ; but they certainly depart from the laws 
written by God in our constitution, when they tend to dis- 
courage and prohibit that extent of recreation on Sundays 
which a corporeal frame like ours demands, and without 
which, the mind, while dependent on the brain for its energy 
cannot put forth its full vigour either in morals, religion, or 
science. I fear that these ideas may appear startling to 
some of my present audience, who have not studied the 
connexion of the brain with the mind ; but believing them 
to be correct interpretations of the divine will, I should feel 
myself guilty of moral cowardice, if I forebore to bring them 
under your notice. 

When, on the other hand, the expounder of scripture 
interprets according to God's law as revealed in nature, he 
is backed and supported by the whole weight of the divine 
power and authority in creation, and his precepts become 
irresistible. He needs no act of parliament, and no police 
to enforce his edicts. The Lord of heaven and earth, who 
proclaimed the laws, carries them into execution. 

The fifth commandment is, " Honour thy father and thy 
mother." 

This enjoins an exercise of Veneration toward parents. 
Natural theology enforces this precept in the most direct 
and efficacious manner. There is an organ of Veneration 
prompting us to respect virtue, wisdom, and experience, and 
our parents are among its natural objects. There is, how- 
ever, one modification of it, which natural theology points 
out, not expressed, although implied, in the fifth command- 
ment : — Parents must render themselves legitimate objects 
of veneration, by manifesting superior moral, intellectual, 
and religious qualities and attainments, before they are au- 
thorized to expect the sentiment to be directed toward them 
by their offspring. Both scripture and reason require them 
to do so, and they have no warrant from either to exact 
reverence while they neglect their own duties. 

The sixth commandment is, " Thou shalt not kUL ,y 
30 



350 RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 

This forbids an abuse of Destructiveness. In natural 
theology we find that the dictates of Benevolence, Venera- 
tion, and Conscientiousness, all conspire with the command- 
ment in forbidding violence ; and, moreover, Combativeness 
and Destructiveness lend their aid in enforcing the precept, 
because they prompt society to retaliate and slay the killer. 

The seventh commandment is, " Thou shalt not commit 
adultery." 

This forbids an abuse of Amativeness. In natural the- 
ology the whole moral sentiments conjoin in the same pro- 
hibition ; and they and the intellect carry the restrictions 
and directions greatly farther. They prohibit marriages at 
ages too early and too late ; marriages of persons related 
in blood ; of persons who possess imperfect or immoral de- 
velopements of brain ; of individuals while labouring under 
any great constitutional malady. In short, natural theology 
interdicts many abuses of Amativeness not mentioned either 
in the Old or New Testament, and it shows its authority in 
the natural laws for its requirements. The disregard with 
which the dictates of natural theology in this department are 
treated, is to be traced to profound ignorance that God has 
issued the prohibitions. We are not yet accustomed to 
regard nature as a revelation of God's will, or to direct our 
conduct by it ; but this is either our fault or our misfortune, 
and it is wrong. 

The eighth commandment is, " Thou shalt not steal." 

This forbids an abuse of Acquisitiveness. In natural 
theology, Conscientiousness and the other moral sentiments 
concur in the denunciation of theft, and the intellect points 
out to the culprit that the individuals who are the subjects 
of his depredations, will visit him with punishment which 
must necessarily prove painful to himself. 

The ninth commandment is, " Thou shalt not bear false 
witness." 

This forbids the action of the other faculties without the 
control of Conscientiousness ; all the moral sentiments pro- 
claim the same prohibition. 

The tenth commandment is, " Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbour's house," &c. 

This forbids an abuse of Acquisitiveness, and of the 
faculty of Self-Esteem in its form of self-love, seeking 
gratification at the expense of others. 

These precepts are enforced in natural theology by the ^ 



RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 351 

dictates of the whole moral sentiments, and also by the 
arrangements of the social world, which bring evil on those 
who contravene them. 

Trying the ten commandments, then, by the standards of 
natural theology, we see no reason to question their inhe- 
rently divine character ; we find them all written in the 
other record of the divine will, that of creation. I may 
observe, however, that they are not complete : first, as 
rules of duty ; for they do not forbid, in express terms, 
abuses of Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, Self-Esteem, 
Love of Approbation, Benevolence, and many other facul- 
ties : and, secondly, they do not expressly enjoin the direct 
exercise of any faculty except that of Veneration. There 
is no commandment directly enjoining the exercise of Be- 
nevolence, Conscientiousness, and Intellect, or commanding 
legitimate uses of Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, Cau- 
tiousness, &c. The New Testament far excels the Mosaic 
law in supplying these deficiencies. First, Christ forbids 
the abuses of all our faculties ; secondly, he enjoins the 
active and legitimate exercise of them all ; and, thirdly, he 
clearly proclaims the supremacy of the moral sentiments, 
or teaches the duty of loving our neighbours as ourselves. 
In one and all of these precepts, natural theology coincides 
with, and enforces his commands. Want of time prevents 
me from showing this in detail, but you can have no difficulty 
in following out the subject yourselves with the lights which 
you now possess. 

It has been stated as an insuperable objection to these 
views, that they entirely exclude the practice of prayer, 
praise, and devotion. If God governs by general and immu- 
table Jaws, what, it is asked, is the object or advantage of 
offering him any homage or service whatever 1 I answer 
this question in the words of Dr. Isaac Barrow. " We do 
not pray to instruct or advise God ; not to tell him news 
or inform him of our wants : (he knows them, as our Saviour 
telleth us, before we ask :) nor do we pray by dint of argu- 
ment to persuade God, and bring him to our bent ; nor that 
by fair speech we may cajole him or move his affections 
toward us by pathetical oration : not for any such purpose 
are we obliged to pray. But for that it becometh and 
behooveth us so to do, because it is a proper instrument of 
bettering, ennobling, and perfecting our souls ; because it 
breedeth most holy affections, and pure satisfactions, and 



352 KELIGIOUS DCTTIES. 

worthy resolutions ; because it fitteth us for the enjoyment 
of happiness, and leadeth us thither : for such ends devotion 
is prescribed."* The doctrine that God is immutable, that 
he governs by general laws, and that our prayers have no 
effect on him, has been maintained also by two eminent 
Scottish divines, Drs. Leechman and Blair, quotations from 
whom you will find in the ninth chapter of the " Constitution 
of Man." I here add the following sentiments expressed 
in " Theological Lectures at Westminster Abbey," by John 
Heylin, D.D., Prebendary of Westminster, and Rector of 
St. Mary-le- Strand :f i 

Discoursing " concerning prayer," Vol. I. p. 94, he says : 
" Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before 
ye ask him. These words are highly instructive, and may 
serve to give us a solid and practical knowledge of the true 
nature of prayer. The proper end of prayer is not to inform 
God of our wants, nor to persuade him to relieve them. 
Omniscient as he is, he cannot be informed. Merciful as 
he is, he need not be persuaded. The only thing wanting 
is a fit disposition on our part to receive his graces. And 
the proper use of prayer is to produce such a disposition in 
us as to render us proper subjects for sanctifying grace to 
work in, or, in other words, to remove the obstacles which 
we ourselves put to his goodness." 

The same views were taught by the philosophers of the 
last century. " The Being that made the world," says 
Lord Karnes, " governs it by laws that are inflexible, because 
they are the best ; and to imagine that he can be moved by 
prayers, oblations, or sacrifices, to vary his plan of govern- 
ment, is an impious thought, degrading the Deity to a level 
with ourselves." His lordship's opinion as to the advantage 
of public worship, shows that he did not conceive the fore- 
going views of prayer to be in the least inconsistent with 
its reasonableness and utility. " The principle of devotion," 
he says, H like most of our other principles, partakes of the 
imperfection of our nature ; yet, however faint originally, it 
is capable of being greatly invigorated by cultivation and 
exercise. Private exercise is not sufficient ; nature, and 
consequently the God of nature, require public exercise or 
public worship : for devotion is communicative, like joy or 

* First Sermon on the Duty of Prayer. 

+ 1749 — Tonson and Draper in the Strand, 46. 



RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 353 

grief; and, by mutual communication in a numerous assem- 
bly, is greatly invigorated. A regular habit of expressing 
publicly our gratitude and resignation never fails to purify 
the mind, tending to wean it from every unlawful pursuit. 
This is the true motive of public worship ; not what is 
commonly inculcated — that it is required from us as a tes- 
timony to our Maker of our obedience to his laws. God, 
who knows the heart, needs no such testimony."* 

The objection that natural theology excludes devotion and 
praise, is equally unfounded. It no doubt excludes both, 
with the object of gratifying the Creator by expressing to 
him our approbation of his works and government, as we 
would seek to please an earthly sovereign by addresses con- 
veying to him our favourable opinion of his measures. But 
if our moral and religious sentiments be deeply penetrated 
with a sense of our own absolute dependence on his power, 
and with admiration of his greatness and goodness ; if our 
intellects be imbued with clear perceptions of his wisdom ; 
if our whole faculties flow toward his laws and institutions, 
with the most earnest desire to know and to obey them ; 
and if we have been created social beings, so that our souls 
expand in vigour, augment in vivacity, and rise into higher 
sublimity, by acting in the presence of each other, it appears 
to me that every form of worship and devotion, which shall 
give expression to these states of mind, is not only permitted, 
but enjoined by natural religion. It teaches us, however, 
humbly, to regard ourselves as enjoying a vast privilege, and 
reaping an unspeakable enjoyment, in being thus permitted 
to lift up our minds to God ; and it dashes away the thought, 
as impious and unwarrantable, that by our devotions we can 
render God happier or better ; or pay back, by any service 
of ours, his boundless gifts to us. Natural theology also 
puts to flight every conception of our pleasing God by pro- 
fessions of respect which we do not feel, or of propitiating 
his favour by praises of his laws, while we neglect and in- 
fringe them. In short, it renders the practice of our duty 
at once a test of our sincerity, and an indispensable antece- 
dent to our receiving benefits from God. This appears to 
me to be also the essential character of Christianity. 

You will observe that in this summary there is no notice 
of punishment and reward in a future state, and no intima* 

* Sketches, B. IIT. Sk. 3. ch. iii. § 1. 
30* 



354 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

tion of means by which we may obtain forgiveness for trans- 
gressions of God's commandments. On these topics natural 
theology appears to me to be silent. 



LECTURE XX. 

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

Clerical hostility to the scientific education of the people — 
Intellectual cultivation not only not adverse to practical 
Christianity, but favourable to its reception — Instance of the 
Hindoos — Mistaken views of religious persons in former 
times with respect to witchcraft — The pope's method of 
averting cholera by a religious procession — Clerical hos- 
tility to Phrenology and the doctrine of the natural laws — 
These the allies, not the foes, of Christianity — Conclusion. 
In concluding these lectures, I beg your attention to a 
denouncement of the whole course of study in which we have 
been engaged, which appeared in the prospectus of The 
Christian Herald.* " All sorts of literary machinery, news- 
papers, lectures, treatises, magazines, pamphlets, school- 
books, libraries of knowledge, for use or for entertainment, 
are most diligently and assiduously set in motion, if not for 
purposes directly hostile to the gospel, at least on the theory 
that men may be made good and happy without the gospel ; 
nay, though the gospel were forgotten as an old wives' fable. 
It were well if they who know the wretched infatuation of 
such views, were alive to the importance of at least attempt- 
ing to set similar machinery in motion for the production of 
a religious impression." The prospectus continues : " It 
is impossible, even if it were desirable, to check the current 
of cheap popular literature ; but it may be possible, through 
faith and prayer, to turn it more nearly into a right channel." 
The impossibility of checking is here assigned as the para- 
mount reason for attempting to direct the current ; whence 
we may infer that these respectable divines would have 
stopped it, if they could. Let us inquire, therefore, with 
becoming deference, but with the freedom of men who have 
the privilege of thinking for themselves, into the grounds of 
these opinions and charges. 

* The Christian Herald is a cheap weekly periodical, con- 
ducted by members of the church of Scotland, and devoted ex- 
clusively to religion. The prospectus was issued in January, 
183.6. 



OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 355 

In my eighteenth lecture I introduced a simile of an angel 
being sent from heaven to teach a celestial choral symphony 
to men, in order to prepare them, on entering the realms of 
bliss, to join in the strains of their new abode ; and observed 
that this might be conceived without imagining the angel to 
create new faculties — his object being only to elevate, 
quicken, and improve those that existed in human nature. 
I used this as an illustration of the relation in which the 
supernatural truths communicated by scripture stand to the 
moral and intellectual faculties of man. The truths of 
scripture do not create new powers and organs in us ; they 
only purify, exalt, and guide those which we previously 
possessed. I observed farther, that those individuals who 
possessed the largest and the best cultivated organs of Tune 
and Time, would be in the best condition to profit by the 
angelic teacher's instructions ; and I now add that those in- 
dividuals who enjoy the most vigorous and best exercised 
moral and intellectual faculties, will, in my opinion, be best 
prepared to profit by the lessons of scripture. 

How would it strike you, then, if the angelic teacher were 
to reproach the human professors of music, whom he found 
on earth instructing their pupils in the best music which 
they knew, and teaching them the practice of the art, with 
the offence of treating the divine symphony as an old wives' 
fable 1 They might most reasonably answer, " O angel of 
light, we and our pupils are humble men, and we do not 
enjoy the benefits of inspiration. We cannot cause the 
solemn organ to roll forth its pealing strains, until we have 
studied its stops, and accustomed our mortal ringers to press 
its keys. We cannot make the dorian flute breathe its soft 
melodies, until we have learned its powers, and practised 
the delicate movements without which it yields only discor- 
dant sounds. We mean no disrespect to your heavenly air, 
but we mortal men cannot at all produce music, until the 
mental faculties and bodily organs, on which musical skill 
depends, have been trained to the art, and we are now in- 
structing ourselves in our own humble way. We are exer- 
cising our mental faculties and our physical powers, to bring 
them into a condition to hear, feel, comprehend, and execute 
the exalted duty which you assign to us. Do not, then, re- 
primand us for acting according to our nature, help and en- 
courage us ; and you will discover, those of us who have 
most assiduously studied and practised our earthly music, 



356 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

will most readily and successfully acquire your heavenly 
strains." 

The angel might blush at this reproof. But the simile 
is applicable to the divines who now denounce us, the teach- 
ers of natural science, as guilty of impiety. The truths of 
scripture are addressed to the identical faculties with which 
we study human science. They are the same intellectual 
powers which judge of the evidence and import of scripture, 
and of the truths of chemistry, geology, and phrenology ; and 
they are the same moral and religious sentiments which glow 
with the love of the God of the New Testament, and with 
that of the God of natural religion : nay, not only are the 
faculties the same, but their object is the same. There are 
not two Gods, but one God, whose character is identical in 
both of the records. Christianity is not diffused miraculously 
in our day : and unless, therefore, the sentiments and intel- 
lectual powers to which it is addressed be previously culti- 
vated by exercise, and illuminated by knowledge, its com- 
munications fall on stony ground and take no root. In May, 
1835, the missionary, Dr. Duff, told the general assembly 
of the church of Scotland, that, in consequence of the minds 
of the Hindoos being entirely deficient in this previous 
training and exercise, the gospel appeared to them actually 
like an old wives' fable. He preached it in its purity and 
its might ; yet it fell dead on their ears, and was lost. 
"What remedy did he propose ] To do the very thing for 
which we are now vituperated by our reverend pastors ; he 
begged the assembly to provide funds to enable him to teach 
the rudiments of physical science and the elements of use- 
ful knowledge to the Hindoos, to prepare them for compre- 
hending the gospel. And he was right. The elements of 
science are the truths of God adapted by him to the con- 
stitution of the human faculties, just as the atmosphere is 
adapted by him to the human lungs, and the lungs to it. As 
the lungs are invigorated by respiring atmospheric air, so are 
the intellectual and moral faculties rendered alert and ener- 
getic, and prepared at once to discriminate and to appreciate 
truth, by the study of natural science. On the other hand, 
until they be so cultivated and quickened, they are the ready 
dupes of superstition, and are not prepared to reap the full 
benefit even of Christianity. Reflect on the state of Spain, 
Portugal, and Italy, and you will learn the consequences of 
profound ignorance of natural science on the religious con- 



OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 357 

<3ition of the people. Gross superstition holds the place of 
rational devotion, and senseless ceremonies are the substi- 
tutes for substantial morality. 

Our own population are more enlightened than the peo- 
ple of these countries, but they still continue too ignorant 
of natural science, and particularly of the philosophy of the 
mind. As neither they nor their clerical teachers appear 
to give due effect to the truth which I am now expounding, 
that Christianity requires cultivated faculties before it can 
produce its full practical benefits, I beg leave to illustrate 
this proposition a little more in detail. 

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, divines and 
the people at large, both in England and Scotland, were in 
full possession of the scriptures. The reformation was 
completed, and printing was in active operation ; yet, in 
those centuries, clergymen sat as judges, and condemned 
old women to the flames as witches. Now, what was the 
cause of this barbarity 1 At that time there was neither 
physical nor mental science ; the phenomena of nature were 
believed to be under the influence of magicians, of evil 
spirits, and of the devil ; and those unhappy victims of igno- 
rance, cruelty, and superstition, were believed to be in league 
with these powers of darkness. It was the dawn of phy- 
sical philosophy which opened up the creation to the human 
intellect, and revealed it as the vast domain of God ; where- 
as, before that dawn, ignorant divines, with the Bible in their 
hands, had mistaken it for the realm of the devil. It was 
science that delivered the clergy and their flocks from the 
practice of atrocious cruelties, from which the unaided 
Bible had not sufficed to protect them. It is no disparage- 
ment to the Bible to say this, because it was never intended 
to supersede the study of God's will as revealed in the re- 
cords of creation ; and, in falling into superstition, the clergy 
and people were suffering the penalty of having omitted to 
discharge that duty to God and to themselves. 

Again ; I mentioned to you at an early stage of these 
lectures, that, when Rome was threatened with cholera, in 
the year 1835, the pope and cardinals carried a black image 
of the Virgin in solemn procession through the streets ; 
while our public authorities, in similar circumstances, cleaned 
the whole city from filth, purified the alleys and confined 
courts by fumigation, provided wholesome food and clothing 
r or the poor, and organized hospitals for the reception ot 



358 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

the sick. What was the cause of this difference of conduct ? 
Our clergy represent the cause of this proceeding of the 
Italians to be their want of the Bible : this is one cause ; 
but it is notorious, that, both in our own country and in Pro- 
testant Germany, although the laity enjoyed the scriptures, 
they continued superstitious, fierce, and cruel, until human 
science dawned on their minds, and co-operated with the 
Bible in developing the spirit of Christianity. The Roman 
people are grossly ignorant of physiology and the laws of 
the animal economy, and their dull minds perceived no con- 
nexion between the disease and the condition of their bodies. 
Edinburgh, on the contrary, was the seat of an enlightened 
medical school, and there were a great number of men who 
saw the connexion between impure air, filth, low diet, and 
deficient clothing, and disease of every kind ; and they, 
therefore, although as ignorant as the pope himself of the 
special causes of the cholera, knew perfectly how to operate 
in conformity with the general principles of health ; and 
they were aware, that whatever tended to promote the 
strength of the body and the tranquillity of the mind, would 
serve to abate the virulence even of an unknown disease. 
The procession of the Virgin, therefore, would here have 
been regarded as a mockery of the human understanding, 
and an insult to the majesty of heaven. But how have we 
come to entertain views so much more rational than those 
of our Roman brethren 1 Not by studying the scriptures ; 
because the scriptures are not designed to teach truths 
which we can discover by the exercise of our own under- 
standing ; but by the study of the anatomy and physiology 
of the body, and the laws of the animal economy in general. 
Part of the course of instruction offered to you by this 
Association* has been that very science which led to these 
wise measures, and we know the beneficial results which 
attended them. The cholera has not yet actually visited 
Rome, and no doubt his Holiness is triumphing in the suc- 
cess of his intercessions ; but we have observed that the 
disease moves by unknown laws, that it occasionally passes 
over a city for a time, and comes back upon it with the full 
force of its destructive influence. Rome, therefore, waits 
her time ; Edinburgh has met the evil, and triumphed over 
it. It will be admitted that the citizens of Edinburgh acted 
the more purely Christian part in this emergency. Yet 
* " The Philosophical Association " of Edinburgh. 



OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 359 

their superior knowledge of physical science was the great 
cause of their superior Christian practice. Why, then, 
should our clerical guides charge us with contempt of the 
Bible, because we teach the people the very knowledge 
which serves to render them willing, able, and intelligent 
co-operators with the plans of Providence in the natural 
world ; which guards their minds from becoming the slaves 
of gross superstitions ; and which, by cultivating their moral 
and intellectual faculties, renders them apt learners of the 
precepts of Christianity I 

But I am led to believe that phrenology and the doctrine 
of the natural laws have particularly attracted the displea- 
sure of these clerical guides, and that phrenologists are 
considered to be particularly chargeable with the sin of 
aiming at making men "good and happy without the gos- 
pel." Tt is agreeable to find that we are charged with no 
worse offence, than attempting to make men U good and 
happy," even although our method of doing so be disap- 
proved of. I admit that I do not teach the gospel in these 
lectures, neither do professors of chemistry and anatomy 
teach it in their courses. But the reason is, that it is the 
duty of the clergy themselves, and not that of the professors 
of natural science, to teach the gospel to the people. 

What, however, does phrenology teach 1 It teaches the 
nature, functions, uses, and abuses of each of our faculties ; 
it shows us that the moral and intellectual powers are given 
to guide our inferior feelings ; and it informs us that we 
must observe the organic laws in order to preserve our brains 
in health, otherwise our mental powers will be impeded and 
deranged in their action. It leads us, in short, to study 
ourselves, and our relations to the external world, and to 
practise the duties thence discoverable, as acts of obedience 
to the will of God. The result is, that, instead of being lost 
in a mist of vague notions of what constitutes sin and what 
righteousness, our disciples are enabled to distinguish good 
from evil m the uses and abuses of their faculties : instead 
of wandering amid dark superstitions, and perhaps praying 
to God for health or other benefits, yet blindly neglecting 
every law of physiology on whish health, or the realization 
of their other desires, depends, they recognise the imperative 
necessity of first obeying God's laws of health established 
in their constitution, or his other natural laws related to the 
objects prayed for ; and then, and then only, do thev ven* 



360 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED'. 

ture to approach him for his blessing and his benefit*, 
Instead of seeing in the external world only a vast confu- 
sion of occurrences, in which sometimes the good triumph, 
and sometimes the wicked — in which the imagination is 
bewildered, and the moral affections disappointed in not 
recognising God — they, by being taught the spheres of the 
different natural laws, by being instructed to trace their 
relations, and by being made aware that each acts indepen- 
dently, and produces its own consequences of good or evil 
— have their eyes opened to the magnificent spectacle of 
a world full of the wisdom and goodness of God, specially 
adapted by him to man's moral and intellectual powers, 
pervaded in every department by an intelligible and efficient 
government, and the whole tending regularly and systema- 
tically to favour virtue, and to punish vice. They recognise 
the duties of temperance and activity — of moral, intellectual, 
and religious cultivation — of affection to kindred — of the 
love of mankind, and of God — and, above all, of obedience 
to God's will — to be engraven on their bodily and mental 
constitutions, and to be enforced by the external creation* 
Is it then treating the gospel as an old wives' fable, to teach 
the people such knowledge as this 1 Is it " a wretched 
infatuation " on our part thus to prepare the mind, by a pure, 
invigorating, and elevating cultivation, to receive, profit by, 
and practise, the precepts of that very gospel itself 1 And 
what are these divines themselves doing ? 

I find, in a review of the Christian Herald in a London 
newspaper,* the following remarks on this subject : " The 
natural world is too interesting to the human intellect to be 
quietly laid on the shelf, or to be forgotten as an old wives* 
fable, and inquiring minds will continue to study it in spite 
of denunciations such as those now cited. If the divines do 
not connect Christian theology with philosophy and science, 
they will every year find a spirit gaining strength against 
them, which will ultimately compel them to follow this 
course, at whatever trouble and disappointment to them- 
selves. In this journal (the Christian Herald) they treat 
the whole material creation with exactly the same neglect 
with which they accuse the authors of worldly literature 
and science of treating revelation ; and with less show of 
reason. Scientific writers are entitled to say that this world 
eomes first, and that, in unfolding its philosophy, they are 
* The Courier of 17th March, 183& 



OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 361 

preparing the way for the clergy to teach the doctrines that 
relate to futurity. But the clergy, in proceeding at once to 
the concerns of the next world, begin at the end. They 
proceed to tell the people how to reap the harvest, without 
teaching them how to cultivate and manure the soil, and how 
to sow the seed." These remarks are so directly applicable 
to the point under consideration, that I cannot add to their 
force. I only remark, farther, that I have hitherto abstained 
from retaliation for the condemnation poured out against 
these lectures from the pulpit* and the press ; and all that I 
now do is, respectfully to beg of you to consider, whether, 
if it be a truth in nature, that large, energetic, and well-ex* 
ercised moral and religious organs are necessary to vigour 
of mind, and that obedience to God's natural laws is neces- 
sary to the profitable reception and practice of Christianity, 
divines would not be better employed in inquiring patiently 
into the truth of these propositions— and if they find them to 
be true, in teaching them, and encouraging others to teach 
them — than in shutting their eyes against the palpable light 
of God, and denouncing us as unfaithful to his cause, when 
only they themselves are, ignorantly, vilifying his institutions. 
Again ; Phrenology shows that moral and religious sen- 
timents enlightened by intellect have been intended to guide 
the inferior faculties of man ; and by the study of political 
economy you will discover that the whole relations of the 
different members of the state, and also of different nations, 
toward each other, uniformly produce good when they are in 
accordance with the dictates of these superior faculties, and 
evil and suffering when they deviate from them : that is to 
say, when the laws of any particular people approach to the 
closest conformity with the dictates of benevolence and jus- 
tice, they become most beneficial for the whole public body, 
and when they depart from them, they become most injuri- 
ous ; also, when a nation, in its treaties and relations with 
foreign states, acts on the principles of benevolence and 
justice, and limits its own exactions by these principles, it 
reaps the greatest possible advantages, while it suffers evil 
in proportion as it attempts to gain by selfishness, rapine, 
force, or fraud. These truths, I say, are rendered clear by 
the combined sciences of phrenology, which proves the 
existence, nature, and objects of our moral faculties, and 

* While these lectures were in course of being delivered, 
one of the ministers of Edinburgh preached against them, 
31 



362 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

political economy, which unfolds the effects on human 
welfare of different political, economical, and legislative 
institutions and systems of action. I appeal to every man 
possessed of common understanding whether teachers of such 
doctrines are, or are not, preparing the public mind for the 
practical developement of that grand Christian condition of 
society, in which all men shall act as brothers and love their 
neighbours as themselves. Nay, not only so, but I request 
you to consider the futility of teaching these sublime pre- 
cepts to a people left in the maze of selfishness, which is 
their inevitable condition until their minds be imbued with 
the truth, that the world is actually constituted in harmony 
with the dictates of the moral sentiments of man. 

Your time will not permit me to extend these remarks 
farther ; but nothing would be more easy than to trace the 
whole circle of the sciences, and show how each of them is 
a pioneer to the practical developement of Christianity. 

It is true that we do not carry them forward to these 
applications in our lectures, and I presume this is the ground 
of the harge against us : but why do we not do so 1 Be- 
cause it is the peculiar and dignified provmce of divines 
themselves so to apply them. Would you reproach the 
ploughman who in spring tilled, manured, and sowed your 
field, because he had not in spring also, and with his plough 
for a sickle, reaped the crop? Equally unreasonable and 
unfounded is this charge against us. We are the humble 
husbandmen, tilling, manuring, and sowing the seeds of 
knowledge in the public mind, and to the clergy is allotted 
the more honourable charge of tending the corn in its growth 
and reaping the golden harvest. 

The cultivation of the moral nature of a being journeying 
through life on his way to a future state, bears the same 
relation to his preparation for eternity, that tilling and sow- 
ing in spring bear to the reaping of thfe fruits of harvest. 
It is clear, then, that if we are cultivating, enlightening, and 
improving the mental powers of our audiences for this world, 
we are rendering them also fitter for the next ; and that 
divines should dovetail their own instruction with ours, in 
so far as we disseminate truth, and should carry forward the 
pupils to whom we have taught the rudiments of natural 
knowledge, to the full perfection of rational and Christian 
men. But here the real cause of their hostility presents 
itself. They really do not yet know how to do so. Phre- 



CONCLUSION. 363 

nology, which unfolds the functions, uses, and relations of 
the human faculties, and which, for the first time since man 
was created, enables him to discover his own position in the 
world which he inhabits, is a science, as it were, only of 
yesterday. It is a recent discovery ; and divines, in general, 
know it not. General physiology, as a science of practical 
utility, is as young as phrenology ; because it could not 
advance to perfection while the uses of the brain, and its 
influence, as the organ of the mind, over the whole of the 
animal economy, were unknown. Divines, therefore, do not 
yet know its relations to their own doctrines. Geology, 
which teaches the past history of the globe, is also but of 
yesterday ; while chemistry, and other physical sciences, 
are all of recent introduction to the intellects of the people. 
The idea of employing these sciences, at all, to the moral 
and intellectual improvement of the great body of the people, 
is new, and the notion of rendering that improvement 
subservient to Christianity is newer still ; and our clergy, 
in general, are yet strangers to both ideas. They are pro- 
ceeding on a system of their own, which was instituted when 
all education for the common people consisted in reading 
and writing, and for the higher ranks in Greek and Roman 
literature ; and they feel uneasy at discovering a vast stream 
of knowledge rolling along the public mind, which has not 
emanated from themselves, and with which their system 
ig not yet connected. This is their misfortune ; and we 
should bear their opposition with equanimity, as the result 
of imperfect knowledge, in the assured confidence that, 
whenever they discover that they cannot arrest our course 
by declaiming against us, they will profit by our labours and 
join our ranks, and that hereafter they and we shall be 
found labouring together for the public good. They and we 
are all engaged in one design. Theirs is the most exalted, 
most dignified, and most enviable vocation allotted to man ; 
and I feel assured that, in a few years, they will find their 
strength, usefulness, and pleasure, unspeakably augmented 
by the very measures which we are now pursuing, and which 
they, not knowing what they do, are vilifying and obstructing. 

Here, then, I conclude this course of lectures. It has 
embraced a mere sketch or outline of a mighty subject, and 
has been chargeable with many imperfections. I feel much 
gratified by the kind attention with which you have followed 



364 CONCLUSION. 

my observations. If they have conferred pleasure or in- 
struction, my object will have been gained. If they shall 
prove the means of exciting your minds to follow out the 
study for your own improvement, I shall feel the highest 
satisfaction. I have spoken plainly and forcibly what ap- 
peared to myself to be true. If I have sometimes fallen into 
error, (as what mortal is free from liability to err'?) I shall 
be anxious to obtain sounder and juster views ; but if I have 
in other instances given a correct exposition of the order 
of the divine government of the world, and the principles of 
natural religion, I hope that you will neither be startled at 
the novelty, nor offended by the consequences, of the ways 
of Providence, which I have expounded. You know your 
own position. You are the first popular audience in this 
city to whom the truths and the consequences of the new 
philosophy of mind discovered by Dr. Gall, have been un- 
folded ; and you are aware that in every age the most 
useful and important truths have had to contend with violent 
prejudices when first promulgated. You have an admirable 
rule, however, prescribed to you for your guidance, in the 
advice given by Gamaliel to the high priest of the Jews. 
*' If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to 
nought ; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." 
(Acts v. 38.) If I have truly interpreted to you any of 
the works and ways and laws of the Almighty, his arm will 
give efficacy to my instruction : if I have erred, my words 
will come to nought. In either event truth will triumph, 
and we shall all become wiser and better. 



APPENDIX. 



In the year 1826, 1 published, in the 3d volume of the Phre- 
nological Journal, an article on the " Causes of the Commercial 
Distress " which then afflicted Great Britain. All the observa- 
tions which I have made since that time, have tended to con- 
firm the views therein expressed ; and as the same causes con- 
tinue to operate, and to produce the same disadvantageous 
effects, I am induced to reprint the following observations as a 
suitable appendix to the preceding lectures. 

It is a fundamental doctrine of ours, that the faculties com- 
mon to man with the lower animals are inferior to those proper 
to man ; and that the Creator has so arranged the world, that 
misery is the natural result of the predominance of the former, 
and happiness of the latter. We shall endeavour to apply these 
principles in accounting for the commercial distress which has 
of late so painfully engaged public attention. 

In a period of profound peace, and immediately after one of 
the finest summers and most abundant harvests ever showered 
by a bountiful Providence on Britain, this country has been 
a theatre of almost universal misery. In October and Novem- 
ber, 1825, stocks began to fall with alarming rapidity ; in No- 
vember, numerous bankers in London failed ; in December, 
the evil spread to the country bankers ; in January and Feb- 
ruary, 1826, the distress overtook the merchants and manufac- 
turers, thousands of whom were ruined, and their workmen 
thrown idle ; agricultural produce began to fall, and suffering 
and gloom extended over the whole empire. These events 
carried intense misery into the bosoms of numberless families. 
The phrenologist, who knows the nature of the propensities 
and sentiments, and their objects, is well able to conceive the 
deep, though often silent, agonies that must have been felt when 
Acquisitiveness was suddenly deprived of its long-collected 
stores ; — when Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation were in 
an instant robbed of all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of 
worldly grandeur, that, during years of fancied prosperity, had 
formed their chief sources of delight ; and when Cautiousness 
felt the dreadful access of despair at the ruin of every darling 
project. The laceration of these feelings hurried some unfor- 
tunate victims to suicide, and spread mental and bodily distress 
widely over the land. So dire a calamity indicates to our 
minds, in the most unequivocal manner, some grand departure 
from the just principles of political economy, or, in other words, 
from the dictates of the higher sentiments, which we hold to be 
the real basis of all sound political philosophy. 

This distress appears to us to have originated in our paper 
currency, which, so far as we at present perceive, is founded 



366 APPENDIX. 

in injustice, and which, consequently, is unsound, and danger- 
ous in its consequences. 

Suppose A to possess £20,000 in money invested in land, 
houses, government stock, or some other fixed and productive 
form, yielding a return of 4 percent., or .£800 per annum ; that 
he pledges this investment to the public, and is permitted on 
the security of it to issue bank-notes to the value of £20,000 : 
in this case real property could be made forthcoming in case 
of necessity to retire the notes, and, according to the general 
opinion, no harm would arise to the public from the transaction. 
Let us, however, trace its effects. 

Suppose A to confine himself to the proper business of bank- 
ing, and that he puts £20,000 in notes into circulation, he 
would draw first £800 a year of interest from his capital, and 
then £1000 a year of interest at 5 per cent, from his notes, in 
all £1800 per annum. It is obvious that he could afford to dis- 
count bills with his bank-notes, or lend them at interest at a 
lower rate than if he carried on the same operations with real 
money, which could not both be laid out at 4 per cent, in land 
or stock, and remain at its owner's disposal, yielding 5 per 
cent, more at one and the same time. The moment, therefore, 
that A with his notes comes into competition as a banker or 
money-lender with other individuals who employed real capital 
in these operations, he is able to beat them out of the market 
by lowering the rate of interest. If he draws 3 per cent, for 
his notes and 4 per cent, of regular return from the invested 
capital, he will receive 7 per cent, in all, when other capitalists, 
who do not first invest their money productively, and then issue 
notes, are drawing only 3 per cent. 

This is unjust ; and yet this was the real state of matters 
during the prodigious fall of interest in 1824 and 1825. The 
bankers issued their paper in floods ; and to keep it in circu- 
lation and increase its quantity, they lowered and lowered the 
rate of interest : Nevertheless bank stock rose, trade increased, 
and every one seemed to flourish except the holders of money 
capital, who were impoverished by the impossibility of finding 
investments, or obtaining a moderate interest for their stock. 
The bankers were well able to do this ; for those who had 
capital profitably invested to the extent of their notes, drew 
the above-mentioned double return, and actually realized 7 or 
8 per cent., when other capitalists were receiving only 3 or 4. 
Those bankers, again, (of whom there seem to have been many 
in England,) who had no invested capital or real stock of any 
kind, could discount bills with notes, or lend at a very low rate 
of interest ; for, as their notes cost nothing beyond paper, en- 
graving, printing, and stamp, and as they had nothing behind 
them to lose, whatever interest they received, if it exceeded 
these expenses, was all gain. 

From these principles it follows, that every man who first 



APPENDIX. 367 

invests his capital productively, and then issues bank-notes at 
interest on the credit of it, places himself in a situation of 
great advantage over those individuals who act as bankers, or 
lenders at interest, with money capital itself ; and that the 
latter can never compete on equal terms with the former, ex- 
cept by investing their capital also in a productive form, and 
issuing bank-notes on the credit of it to the same extent with 
their livals. If, to protect himself, every one were to issue 
notes to the extent of his invested capital, paper would become 
so redundant as to have scarcely any value, and would speedily 
be put down as a public nuisance ; and yet, unless every man 
who possesses real property does this, he is injured by the issue 
of notes by his neighbours. 

The effects of the paper system may be farther illustrated. 
Let us suppose the trade of a country to be carried on by means 
of gold and silver as the medium of exchange ; then the follow- 
ing results will take place : The precious metals are real com- 
modities, which cannot be increased instantaneously to an 
unlimited extent. They are procured by labour, and require 
time for their increase. A small trade requires a small sup- 
ply, while a great trade demands a proportionate quantity of 
them. If trade increases faster than the supply of gold and 
silver, they will become relatively scarce, and their value 
will rise ; or, in other words, the price of goods will fall. 
This fall will check production until the supply of gold and 
silver has increased in proportion to the trade, when prices 
will again rise, and production will proceed.* 

* Since the text was written I have had an opportunity of 
observing the effects of a paper currency in the United States 
of America, and perceive, that, for the purposes of exchange 
of real commodities between individuals and also between 
states, any species of currency that represents, and never ex- 
ceeds, the value of the articles exchanged, will meet the exi- 
gencies of commerce. In 1840, there was scarcely a currency 
of any kind in circulation in Philadelphia. The banks had 
suspended cash payments in October, 1839, and in the subse- 
quent spring, with a view to diminishing their circulation, 
they declined to issue notes. The commerce of that great 
city proceeded with little interruption. The banks discounted 
bills as usual ; but in place of paying notes, they merely placed 
the proceeds to the credit of the merchant. When he wished 
to pay dents, or to retire his own bills due at other banks, he pre- 
sented a check to his own banker for the amount wanted ; his 
banker marked it " good," and it was then received by all the 
merchants and banks as money. The banks made up their 
balances between themselves, and paid interest when they 
were debtors and received it when creditors of each other. In 
London, transactions to a large amount are settled every day 



368 APPENDIX. 

According to this principle, while gold and silver are the cir- 
culating medium, full scope is given for a gradual production 
of wealth, because those metals can be increased by time and 
labour, in proportion to the increase of population, and the 
natural augmentation of commodities. At the same time a 
positive check to over-production in every branch of industry 
is supplied, because the metals cannot be instantaneously and 
indefinitely increased : whenever goods are produced with un- 
due rapidity, money will become relatively scarce and prices 
will fall* 

by means of checks, for which money is never drawn, but 
which practically produce only a transfer of debits and credits 
in the accounts kept by the merchants with their respective 
bankers. Paper money is so convenient a currency for settling 
transactions in this manner, that few persons perceive where 
its advantages end and its disadvantages begin. The turning 
point appears to me to be this. It will serve admirably well, 
as long as the commodities, in exchange of which it is employ- 
ed, are of equal value : but it will not serve to discharge a balance. 
It has no real value in itself, and cannot therefore compensate 
or pay for an article of real value. As long as Philadelphia 
sold as much to New York, for example, as she bought, the 
paper of the two cities was at par in both. But when Phila- 
delphia bought more than she sold, New York demanded specie 
for the balance ; and as Philadelphia had no specie to give, her 
paper currency fell to 9, 10, and 11 per cent, discount in New 
York. The constant tendency of a paper currency is to ex- 
pand itself beyond the value of real commodities, and thereby 
to produce commercial revulsions. 

* The proposition in the text may be more correctly stated 
as follows : Whenever production in any branch of manufac 
ture becomes excessive, the articles produced fall in value, 
because nobody wants the surplus quantity. If they have been 
raised by an expenditure of currency, obtained on credit, and 
when sold exchange for less than the amount of currency ex- 
pended in producing them, the difference must be made up, 
and it will be a loss to the manufacturer if he be able to pay 
it, or to the banker who gave the credit, if the manufacturer be 
insolvent. If the currency be specie, (the amount of which is 
limited by nature,) the banker cannot obtain it himself, and 
therefore cannot lend it ad libitum, and the manufacturer is 
consequently arrested by nature in his tendency to over-produc- 
tion. If the currency be one of paper, which may be increased 
ad libitum, the banker issues as long as the manufacturer de 
mands it, and the first check is experienced only after the evil 
is done, when over-production has actually occurred, and when 
the commodities produced can no longer be exchanged for as 
much currency as was expended in their production. The 



APPENDIX. 369 

On the bank-note system the order of nature is exactly re- 
versed. If immense manufacturing, buying, and selling take 
place, even without corresponding consumption, bills are mul- 
tiplied — and when bills are multiplied, discounts increase — and 
where these abound, the paper circulating medium increases ; 
when the circulating medium increases, prices rise ; and hence 
we have the absurd anomaly of rising markets in the face of 
enormous over-production. We have also the strange facts 
of interest falling as trade increases, and the difficulty of find- 
ing employment for capital reaching its acme when transac- 
tions to a most unwonted extent are going forward, requiring 
a vast amount of circulating medium. 

The result of this system renders the error of principle in- 
volved in it still more conspicuous. In 1824-5, the bankers, 
tempted by the flood of wealth that flowed in upon them in the 
form of interest for their notes, preserved no bounds to their 
issues ; they discounted bills at 6, 9, and 12 months' date, lent 
on mortgages, and in England bought mills and lands, and even 
became manufacturers themselves. When their notes were 
returned, these securities were not convertible, the bankers 
failed, a panic arose, and paper was poured back upon them in 
a stream of frightful magnitude and extent. Those bankers, 
who had nothing to give in return for their notes, except the 
bills of merchants for which they had at first issued them, call- 
ed on the merchants to pay ; the latter, however, had nothing 
except the goods which the bills represented. The goods, un- 
fortunately, had not been produced to meet the real wants of 
society, but had been fostered into existence by the temptation 
of profit, which dazzled first the manufacturer, and then the 
banker who discounted his bills ; and at last, when the paper 
currency ceased to flow, and the goods were to be bought by 
real capital, they fell 50 per cent. ; the merchants were unable 
to pay, and bankruptcy stalked far and wide over the land. 

If, as in Scotland, the bankers had land, houses, stock, or 
other property behind their notes, they were able to make up 
the deficiency arising from the failure of the merchants ; but 
they became alarmed at the extent of their losses, drew in their 
notes, lessened the circulating medium, and depressed the 
prices of goods to the lowest ebb. Real capital then came into 
request, interest rose, and ,£100 in real cash bought more 
goods than £150 did while the country was deluged with paper. 

Matters will remain in this state until the stock of manu- 
factured articles is brought below the natural demand ; trade 
will then revive, and for a time be profitable ; confidence will 
be restored, and bills again be granted, discounts will follow, 
paper currency will increase, prices will coatinue to rise, pro- 
duction will be pushed to the last extremity, everything will 
appear to flourish for a time, till another crash arrives, and 
losses from over-production, therefore, will be greater where a 
paper, than where a metallic, currency prevails. 



370 APPENDIX. 

then we shall be told about the calamities of life and commer- 
cial distress, and perhaps see a little deeper into the causes, 
and at length look for a remedy. 

According to our view, instead of the abolition of one pound 
bank-notes being an evil, the only fault of the measure is, that it 
does not go far enough, and do away with bank paper altogether. 
We fear that the national debt would become an intolerable 
burden if this was done ; but, nevertheless, as long as we suffer 
a paper currency to exist — a currency which can be produced 
without labour, and increased without limits, and which ena- 
bles the issuer of it to reap double profits at the expense of 
those who do not issue bank-notes — so long will the nation be 
doomed to suffer the punishment which follows every departure 
from justice and sound principle. It has been said, that the 
holder of £20,000 of capital may lend this sum, and he will 
easily get credit for .£20,000 more on the faith of it ; and that 
thus he will be on a par with a banker who invests his capital, 
and then issues notes. But there is this difference : the banker 
and capitalist are, no doubt, on a par in both drawing a return 
for their £20,000, if they lend them ; but when the latter goes 
to market and asks credit for £20,000 worth of goods, he has to 
pay the credit price, or 2\ per cent, for three months ; whereas 
the issuer of notes pays his notes for the goods, and gets this 
per-centage of discount. Here the injustice of the principle is 
equally obvious. 

Our limits prevent us from tracing out all the evils of the 
paper system in their minute ramifications ; but we take our 
stand here — that its principles are unjust and unnatural, and 
that all its consequences must be evil. We proceed, there- 
fore, to apply phrenology to this subject. According to our 
view, the Creator has framed the world on the principle of the 
predominance of the higher sentiments ; that is to say, if man- 
kind will condescend to seek their chief gratifications in the 
exercise of Benevolence, Veneration, Conscientiousness, and 
Intellect, they will be exempt in an amazing degree from cala- 
mity ; while they will suffer continually recurring misery so 
long as they place their highest enjoyments in the gratification 
of the lower propensities. It is an undeniable fact, that the 
inhabitants of Britain generally are involved in a chase of 
wealth, power, and personal aggrandizement, or the gratifica- 
tion of Acquisitiveness, ^elf-Esteem, and Love of Approba- 
tion, to the exclusion of everything like systematic cultivation 
of the proper human faculties before enumerated. Now, if our 
principle be correct, they never can be happy while this is the 
case. If the Creator have intended the higher powers to pre- 
vail, his whole arrangements must be in harmony with them, 
and the world must be so constituted that it is possible for 
every individual to reap the enjoyment for which existence is 
given. By the gratification of the higher powers, we do not 
mean mere psalm-singing and superstitious devotion ; but en- 



APPENDIX. 371 

lightened religion, the exercise of habitual benevolence, justice, 
and respect between man and man, the reciprocal communica- 
tion of knowledge, and the systematic exercise of the intellect 
in studying the laws of creation. For these ends a portion of 
time every day is requisite : but on the present system the 
whole energies, bodily and mental, of millions of our popula- 
tion, are expended in ministering to the gratification of Acqui- 
sitiveness, Self-Esteem, Love of Approbation, and still lower 
animal propensities ; and, if suffering follow this course of con- 
duct, men have themselves alone to blame. If, by the arrange- 
ments of the Creator, the labour of six or seven hours a day is 
amply sufficient for the full satisfaction of every desire that 
mere physical objects can gratify, and if the other hours, not 
necessary for sleep, were intended for the exercise and grati- 
fication of the moral and intellectual powers — then men, by 
devoting their whole time to the former, and neglecting the 
latter, must necessarily produce evil to themselves. 

Accordingly, this is the actual state and result of matters in 
Britain at the present time. The labouring population are 
forced to work ten or twelve hours a day ; this creates a great 
redundancy of goods ; then they are thrown entirely idle, and 
suffer infinite misery, and their masters are involved in bank- 
ruptcy and ruin. The bank-notes, by enabling the masters to 
force production at this rate, (w T hich without them w 7 ould be 
impossible,) greatly contribute to this evil. The Creators 
laws at the same time show themselves paramount even in the 
breach of them, for if the months, days, and hours of idleness 
which follow regularly, on every stagnation of trade, had been 
distributed over the working days, they would have reduced 
each day's toil to the precise extent that was really necessary 
for the satisfaction of actual human wants ; and the same law 
will continue to rule the world whether men recognise it or 
not. If the masters could be persuaded to establish schools, 
libraries, and every means of moral and intellectual cultiva- 
tion, and allow their workmen systematically to cultivate their 
human faculties for three or four hours a day, trade would go 
regularly on, there would be no gluts of the market, profits 
would be steady, crime would diminish, and a flood of moral 
and intellectual enjoyment would spread over the land, that 
would render earth the porch of heaven. 

These ideas, we fear, will be regarded by many as Utopian ; 
but we may notice a practical illustration of them, which, we 
think, will be generally recognised. By the combination laws, 
the workmen were punishable for joining together in a resolu- 
tion to have their wages raised. This was clearly in opposi- 
tion to justice. The wisdom of our present excellent ministers 
repealed this enactment. Last summer and autumn extensive 
combinations were formed among the operative workmen for a 
rise of wages, and they struck work for several months be- 
cause their demands were not complied with. The masters 



372 APPENDIX. 

and the conductors of the public press clamoured against mi* 
nisters, and complained that the country would be ruined if 
the law were not restored which enabled the employer to com* 
pel his servants to work at such wages as he chose to give. 
We noticed at the time that these complaints proceeded from 
shallow minds, and that the just law would ultimately prove 
the most beneficial. Already this prediction has been amply 
fulfilled. The demand for workmen last summer now turns 
out to have been entirely factitious, fostered by the bank-notes ; 
and the whole manufacturing districts to have been engaged in 
an excessive over-production. The combination of the work- 
men was one of the natural checks to this erroneous proceed- 
ing.; to have compelled them by force to work would have ag- 
gravated the evil ; and it is a notorious fact, that those masters 
whose men stood longest out are now best off, for their stocks 
were sold off at the high prices of summer, and having been 
prevented from laying in more, they now rejoice when their 
fellows mourn. Glasgow has been saved a great deal of cala- 
mity by the workmen standing out so long. The practical men 
should confess this, and do justice at once to the laws ojf the 
Creator and the wisdom of ministers. 

We close with a last example. Leather made from hides of 
home-slaughter has preserved its price, and continued steadily 
in demand amid an extensive fall on leather of every other 
description ; and the reason is, that as cattle are killed for their 
flesh, and not for their hides, the supply of these could not, by 
human contrivance, be increased in proportion to the cupidity 
of the manufacturers, but remained nearly stationary at the 
rate of the natural demand. Leather made from imported 
hides, which, under the impulse of Acquisitiveness, were pro- 
cured from every corner of the earth, is of a different quality, 
and cannot be substituted for the other, and the stock of it is 
now excessively redundant, and the price ruinously low. 
Wherever the human intellect supplies the check that nature 
affords in the home hide trade, the results will be equally con- 
solatory. The profits of that business, we are told, have been 
regular and steady ; the stock, although lowered in value by 
the present crisis, is comparatively little depressed, and is 
said to be one of the safest and steadiest branches of manufac- 
ture at present prosecuted in Britain. 

Postscript. — The events which have occurred in Britain 
since 1826, when the preceding remarks were published, have 
afforded a striking confirmation of their truth. At a meeting 
of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures, held in Man- 
chester in December, 1839, it was shown that the sudden ex- 
pansion of the currency, by the extensive issue of bank-notes, 
raised prices of goods instantaneously : while its contraction, 
by withdrawing them, caused a depression of prices, in both 
instances, to the extent of 25 per cent, in a few month«> 



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